How Soon Do Flies Smell Death?
WouterSome species of flies can sense the presence of death long before the body itself is dead. Some even swarm to a corpse before it is dead. Despite this remarkable behavior, most people don’t recognize these creatures when they see them. This ability of flies to smell death is useful for advertising, as it is used to identify dead bodies.
Flies that smell death include blowflies and flesh flies. These insects are highly sensitive to the odors that accompany decomposition, and they can detect a corpse as soon as 15 minutes. A corpse serves as an incubator, a feeding station, and a place to lay their eggs. Moreover, blowflies are able to smell a corpse even if the body is covered with thick vegetation.
In order to survive, flies rely on their keen senses and quick reflexes. This is one reason why they are so successful. Their eyes and antennae are extremely sensitive, and they are also able to fly away in a matter of 100 milliseconds. In fact, flies can smell death and flee in a matter of seconds. For this reason, flies are also useful in murder investigations.
In some cases, determining the time at which a body died is crucial. In some cases, a difference of only a few hours can make the difference between acquittal. To do this, a forensic entomologist needs to analyze the bugs present on the corpse. For example, if a body has blowfly maggots, the forensic entomologist will need to know what kind of blowfly it was and at what stage it had developed.
