What are flies doing when it looks like they are rubbing their hands?
In: Biology
While grooming seems to be the primary reason, there may be other reasons for the behavior. One idea is that the rubbing helps regenerate an even magnetic field or [remove static](https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2015/07/electric-fields-signal-no-flies-zone.page#:~:text=Professor%20Newland%20explains%3A%20%E2%80%9CWhen%20a,as%20opposite%20charges%20were%20attracted.&text=The%20effect%20on%20the%20wings,changes%20in%20their%20brain%20chemistry.), giving them improved flight abilities. Another is that they are simply sensing the environment more, kinda how a dog sometimes licks its nose over and over while smelling something. Each “rub” may give them a new whiff of the area. These ideas are based on the fact that flies have been found to have built in magnetic sensors that act like [compasses](https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/can-fruit-flies-see-magnetism) and evidence shows they may even *see* magnetism, even [imprinting beneficial locations to offspring through genetic changes](https://www.pnas.org/content/117/2/1216) that guide the fly where to go. So keeping their sensors clean may still be only part of what’s going on.
TLDR: Removing static and getting a better look at where they are.
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