Fruit Flies, Fighter Jets Use Similar Evasive Tactics When Attacked 65
vinces99 writes: "When startled by predators, tiny fruit flies respond like fighter jets – employing screaming-fast banked turns to evade attacks. Researchers at the University of Washington used an array of high-speed video cameras operating at 7,500 frames a second to capture the wing and body motion of flies after they encountered a looming image of an approaching predator (abstract). 'We discovered that fruit flies alter course in less than one one-hundredth of a second, 50 times faster than we blink our eyes, and which is faster than we ever imagined.' In the midst of a banked turn, the flies can roll on their sides 90 degrees or more, almost flying upside down at times, said Florian Muijres, a UW postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the paper. 'These flies normally flap their wings 200 times a second and, in almost a single wing beat, the animal can reorient its body to generate a force away from the threatening stimulus and then continues to accelerate,' he said."
Re:Although (Score:4, Insightful)
They both eat shit and bother people.
(rimshot)
Re:Are we sure it is JUST like a fighter jet? (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, I think the limit of the analogy was that both fruit flies and fighter jets use banked turns during evasive maneuvers. A banked turn is an obvious choice for a fighter jet, but when you get down to the size of a fruit fly, the aerodynamics are different and so it's interesting that this is still a preferred turning strategy.