Has this ever happened to you? There's a fly in the house, buzzing around you, so you go to the cabinet to get the swatter. But as soon as you start wielding it, the little bastard disappears. You set it down, and now he's back, taunting you.

Ok so obviously flies don't taunt, but do they have the capacity to recognize, even instinctually, that I'm holding a deadly weapon?

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[–] 42 points 3 years ago (19 children)

Instinctively, I doubt it. But they can pick up on the air moving around from you trying to swat at it, which is why it's such a pain in the ass to capture to release or kill one. They are able to tell well before they're captured/caught that something is coming for them.

This BU blog entry from 2012 gives a lot of interesting information on the many ways they are able to evade us.

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  • [–] 18 points 3 years ago (11 children)

    We have 2 advantages: we can build tools for specialized purposes, like killing flies. We can analyze misses and predict where a fly will be when it tries to evade a strike.

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  • [–] 19 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    How the fuck have we not got wee mini computer controlled lasers yet that take them out like a micro size star wars thingy

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  • [–] 16 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    I just clap above them. Then they often fly an inch or two upwards... and get squished

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