Do flies poop every time they land?
We were all told this by a parent or friend as a kid on a summer day when a fly landed on our hotdog. I still ate mine, but was grossed out for half a second and still think of it every time a fly lands on me or my food.
Based on our research, this tale is right up there with the ‘hook on the door handle’ urban legend. However, don’t stop reading quite yet. There are some gross facts about fly landings that you should know. So before you say “I told you so” to the person you had this argument with I am going to drop some knowledge.
- Flies do poop. They just don’t poop every time they land. We have included a video of a fly pooping below.
- Flies hang around poop. All the cool flies do at least. You probably weren’t invited. But I hear there is a dog coming to town next week, so, you never know. Just play it cool….My point being, that flies get a lot of gross stuff on the pads of their feet, which actually absorbs the poop pretty well. So, every time they do land chances are they were just somewhere else that was pretty gross.
- Flies can’t eat solid food. It is like they are always just leaving the dentist. They can only suck in liquids through a straw like nozzle called a proboscus. Due to dietary limitation a fly regurgitate some of their stomach contents when they land on something seems edible and is solid. This then breaks apart the food and creates enough of a liquid for the fly to suck it up.
