How Do Flies Take Off Their Heads?

When flies are threatened, they don’t take off their heads, but they can move their heads with their legs. In a viral video posted to Twitter by the Nature is Scary page, a fly can be seen moving its head on its legs. When it is threatened from behind, it leans its body and raises its legs to push off backward. If it is attacked from the side, it moves its legs forward and leans backward before leaping.

Fly brains are different from ours, which is why they don’t react to fast visual motions. The brain in a fly has a small number of facets, but it’s not big enough to process fast movements. In addition, flies’ eyes are much lighter than their heads, which means that they don’t take as much energy to move.

Despite its tiny size, the smallest fly in the world has the ability to decapitate ants. This insect belongs to the Phoridae family and lays its eggs inside the ant’s head. The larvae then feed inside the head and cause the ant to detach itself from the body. This species has been reported in the Biodiversity Data Journal.

The ant-decapitating fly attracts its target by emitting a pheromone similar to that of fire ants. Once it has found its target, the female fly hovers around it and dives in. When it reaches the right position, the female uses an internal ovipositor, called a lock and key, to insert a tiny torpedo-shaped egg into the ant.