Summer is here and my area seems to have an excess of flies. I can’t go on a hike without them buzzing all around me and trying to land on me. What do they want?? Sweat? There is plenty of water elsewhere. Can someone explain so I can figure out a way to dispel these demons?
In: Biology
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In Australia in the dryer parts they want to drink fron the corners of your eyes and mouth there is a small amount of moisture there they can drink… they also want your sweat
Moreover, why are some black flies blood thirsty biting machines while others are not?
I think that they’re attracted to sweat. That’s why there aren’t any flies on prince Andrew
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What I want to know is how do house flies know when I just temporarily opened up my front door for a minute? I mean are they waiting around outside with an eyeball on my door just waiting for the opportunity? Or are there so many of them around at all times (even though I can’t see them anywhere) that somehow there’s always one nearby when I open the door? And like, I was under the impression that they don’t have very good eyesight so I don’t know how a fly that’s twenty or thirty feet away sees me opening the door.
And yet despite all that somehow… I open the garage door or the back door or whatever… And 10 seconds later there’s a big old fly in there.
How do they do it???
Flies are dumb. They react only to the smell of stuff they are “programmed” to be interested in – sweat/body odors, carbon dioxide we breathe out, things like that. They follow the smell and arrive at you. They are not even trying to be annoying – when you swat them away, they flee a bit to get away from the immediate threat and then the “fly to the smell” behavior kicks in again, which is why they are so annoying. Same for biting insects like horseflies, except that they react to some additional things like dark colors and body heat.
Have you tried insect repellent?
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