House flies are the most famous of 300 000 species of flies. They can be found all over the world. Most of them have the same life cycle and have an average life span of a month.
Fast Facts about House Flies
1. House fly is small insect that can reach ¼ of inch in length.
2. House fly is grey in colour. It has four dark stripes on the back side of the body.
3. House flies are able to move their wings 200 times per second.
4. House fly produces sticky substance which keeps the fly firmly attached to the ground (it acts like glue after landing).
5. House flies defecate every couple of minutes. This is one of the factors that facilitate transmission of diseases.
6. An average housefly carries 2 million bacteria on its body.
7. The feet of a housefly is 10 million times more sensitive to the taste of sugar than the human tongue.
8. Houseflies have a compound eye that sees many directions at once. They also have a highly evolved evasive reaction that detects the slightest changes in air currents. This is why it is extremely hard to swat a housefly.
9. Flies like to eat manure, which is animal poop, or old garbage. Some of the germs from these materials can stay on their feet or mouth parts. When a fly lands on your food, those germs get on your food. Super disgusting!
10. The adult fly has a normal life of about thirty (30) days during warm weather although flies live as long as five months.
