A fly's blindspot

[Jennifer Radzienda]

In the corny movie we saw after the midterm it took a while for the
husband to kill that fly because it could see him coming from a mile
away. I've heard that if you approach a fly from slightly above and
behind, it won't notice you or the flyswatter. Do they have a blind spot
that prevents them from seeing everything?

[pocahontas]

i don't know about the fly's blindspot, but what i do know is that they
notice the change in the surrounding air current of an approaching hand
or swatter and that is why they move. the faster you are, the best --
like killing them with a quick twitch of a hand towel or what i have
found works great (and you might think is gross, but it totally works) is
by turning your hand sideways and coming down slowly above the fly.
then, you quickly turn your hand, palm down, and smoosh it! it doesn't
work all the time, but for the most part, it works GREAT!!! chat later!!

molly mcclenahan

[Gustavo Mora]

I don't know about a flies blind spot, but I have heard that if you
want to catch a fly, you should notice it's flight pattern,
supposedly, they fly in little squares, but I'm not sure how true this
may be. Maybe Daniel-San knew this little secret.

[Peter Boyle]

Dear Jennifer,

I have often wondered the same question. If you try to swat a fly from
the front or from the direct side, the fly always seems to notice and
escape. From what I have experienced, I would answer your question by
saying that flies definately have a blind spot. Flies eyes are not
positioned on the front of their heads, like humans have their eyes
positioned. Instead, flies have eyes located on the sides. For this
reason they have excellent vision when people try to swat them from the
right or left side. I think the trick is to swat them from behind and
above, like you heard, because this is where their eyes are least effective.

Peter Boyle

Section 2

Jennifer Radzienda (ez06...@bullwinkle.ucdavis.edu) wrote:
: In the corny movie we saw after the midterm it took a while for the