Blowfly The Weird World Of Blowfly

[Yury Morris]

Smellof Death: Blowflies are often the first insect to catch the scent of dead animals. After finding a rotting corpse, the flies fly tight circles just above it to sniff out the best area with the softest, rottenest flesh.

Soak it Up: These insects don't have teeth, and they can't eat solid food. Blowflies vomit digestive juices onto rotting meat to liquefy it, then unfold their sponge-like mouthparts to soak up the nutrients.

Adult blowflies don't eat nearly as much as their white, worm-like young, called maggots. These juveniles devour amazing amounts of meat, even though the maggots are less than an inch long. Like adults, they secrete enzymes that dissolve rotting meat so they can soak up the soup. They also burrow into the flesh as much as possible during their two-week juvenile stage. This provides a great cleanup service in the wild. A few batches of blowfly larvae can devour every bit of meat off a carcass as big as an impala in less than a week.

On the Fly: Adult blowflies are agile fliers, and can cope with almost any conditions. behind their wings is a pair of stalks called hectares. These contain 400 sensors that send information about air pressure, wind speeds and other navigation aids directly to the insect's brain.

Diseased: Spending time on decaying corpses often leads to bacteria clinging to a blowfly's feet. These insects have been known to spread deadly diseases, such as typhoid, when they land on people, or a person's food, and drop off the bacteria.

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