Every summer, flies are very annoying, but many people may not know that flies have a special "magic" ability: they can twist their heads off as "toys" .
In September 2021, a woman in Sichuan captured such a miraculous scene when she accidentally photographed flies.
The woman was busy with her work and had nothing to do when a fly landed on the invoice she had just sorted out. The flies didn't seem to notice that the woman was paying attention to it, and still rubbed their "hands" habitually.
The woman was curious about the "rubbing hands" of flies, so she turned on the camera of her mobile phone and prepared to shoot a video to record it. At this moment, an amazing scene happened. The flies actually used their "hands" to put their heads down, and also put them in their "hands" to play with .
The strange thing is that the fly screwed off its head and didn't die, as if nothing happened, playing with its head.
After seeing this video, many people have a common question in their hearts, why do flies put their heads down? Can it be reinstalled? How long can a fly live without a head?
The fly's head and body are separated, and the fact that the fly can continue to survive has a lot to do with the fly's body structure and function.
The body structure offlies is very different from that of humans
For humans, if they are accidentally injured, they will quickly feel pain under the response of the central nervous system , and they will even cry out involuntarily.
has scientific research showing that,The propagation speed of the human nervous system to the nerve impulse can often reach 20-30 meters, which is why human beings can respond quickly when they are stimulated by the external environment.
This is strange, since the injury will feel pain, why does the fly still play casually after putting its head down?
If the human nervous system is regarded as a closed system, the fly's nervous system presents an open pattern. Simply put, the human central nervous system is concentrated in the brain, while the fly's ganglia are distributed throughout the body and do not interfere with each other.
Scientists have studied the nervous system of flies and found that there is a nerve cord that runs across the abdomen and thorax to the back of the brain in flies. The mystery of how flies can survive after screwing their heads off lies in this nerve cord.
The experimental data show that the nerve cord of flies can be divided into three segments by its different functions.
flies have ventral ganglia in their abdomens, and this part of the nerves is mainly used to control the functions of the rear half of the fly, including the muscles of the tail, anus, genitals and most of the internal organs.
The thoracic ganglion distributes in the middle part of the fly body. The nerves in this part mainly play the functions of controlling the fly's flight and motor muscles, including the flapping of the wings and the movement of the legs.
The brain of the fly also has a nervous system, but the hypopharyngeal nerve in the fly's head has very limited functions, mainly for the activities of its own eyes, mouthparts and neck muscles.
This particular nervous system distribution,Let the ganglia of the fly do their job without interfering with each other, and they can continue to work even when a few ganglia are separated.
Because of this, even if the head is completely separated from the body, the body can continue to move because the ganglia that control the body's motor function are not controlled by the brain.
What's even more amazing is that the fly's head that leaves the body is also active, and the fly's eyes can even turn. Scientists have found that when the fly separates the head and body, the two parts of the tissue that are separated can still survive in the natural environment for 2-3 days.
Many people may worry about how to breathe and ensure the supply of oxygen in the fly's body without even a mouth? In fact, the respiratory system of flies is distributed in the whole body, and there are many stomata distributed in the whole body of flies. Oxygen enters the body through the stomata to ensure the oxygen supply of flies .
Seeing this, I believe many people understand why the fly's head and body can continue to survive after being separated. But the other question is even more suspicious. Why do flies twist their heads off, and what are the benefits to the flies?
Flies unscrew their heads as "toys", which is related to the habit of "rubbing hands"
Scientists once found the figure of ancient flies in a piece of amber fossils 1 year ago, that is to say, flies It has lived on earth for more than 100 million years.
The reproductive cycle of flies is very fast. After 100 million years of evolution, the various bodily functions of flies should have matured.
I don't know if you noticed, flies will stop and rest briefly after flying for a period of time.During this time, the fly quickly rubs its two forelimbs, and sometimes the hind legs do something similar .
Through observation, it is found that when the fly is holding its head, it is doing such a "rubbing hand" action. Could it be that the fly is deliberately holding its head down?
The reason why flies keep "rubbing their hands" is to remove food residues and dirt on their forelimbs and clean their bodies. Don't joke that flies love to be clean. There are thousands of hairs on the fly's feet. The ends of these hairs are distributed with many neuron dendrites to help the fly distinguish food and taste.
At the same time, the size and weight of flies are small, and if the legs are covered with dirt, it is not conducive to the fly's take-off and fast flight. Flies have achieved the best flying state by cleaning their forelimbs and hindlimbs by "rubbing their hands".
In addition, female flies have a soft spot for male flies that "rub hands" fast, female flies show their "hand rubbing" skills to attract the attention of opposite sex flies .
However, there are times when the flies miss their hands. If the "rubbing hands" is too large, or the force is not grasped properly, and the neck is originally very thin, the flies may lose their hands if they are not careful. Bring your own head down.
Because the motor nerves in the back of the fly's body are not controlled by the brain, the fly will not feel pain or even realize that it is its own head.
So there is a magical scene captured by a Sichuan woman,The flies put their heads down by themselves and play with them as "toys" as if nothing had happened.
However, once the fly's head is taken off, it cannot be put back on again. If the fly makes a mistake while "rubbing hands" and breaks its head, the only thing waiting for the fly will be death.
If you see a fly holding its head, please stay away from it
Seeing this, I believe that many people are full of curiosity about this special skill of flies. However, if you do come across flies that are "playing" with your head, it's best to stay away from them.
Most of the flies we see belong to housefly , which are omnivorous flies. As most people have seen, flies eat whatever they see, and especially like sour, smelly, sweet, and scented foods.
Due to the unique structure of the digestive system of flies, flies have a bad habit of eating and pulling while eating. Data shows that flies can digest food in their mouths in 7-11 seconds and expel the waste out of the body. This means that flies can complete 4-5 bowel movements per minute when fed.
Flies like to eat the excrement and secretions of livestock and poultry, and they often go in and out of places with poor environment such as garbage dumps. Coupled with the bad habit of "eating and vomiting", flies carry a lot of bacteria. .
On a common housefly, can carry more than 200 kinds of bacteria , and the types of bacteria have a lot to do with the places where they come and go. When the flies "rub their hands", in addition to rubbing off the food residues on their legs, bacteria will also drop on the places where the flies stayed .
So,If you see flies "rubbing your hands" playing, or holding your head down, don't approach or touch these flies out of curiosity, you should keep them away.
In daily life, don't put food that you haven't finished eating, and don't put it in a place that flies can touch. If you find that flies have stayed on the food or water, it's best not to eat it again, so as to prevent the bacteria left by the flies from entering the body.
The world is full of wonders. Apart from flies, have you seen any animals that can survive after being separated from their bodies and heads?
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