How Strong is a Fly?
It’s important to know how strong a fly is before trying to kill one! In fact, the strength of a fly can exceed that of a person. A house fly, for instance, is more powerful than you might think. While the average house fly isn’t as large as a man, it can still lift more than five pounds!
The strength of a fly’s wings comes from their evolution and shape. The wings of a house fly are similar to the shape of a dumbbell. This helps explain why houseflies are so hard to swat. The ability to take off and land quickly is a result of these wing-shaped evolutionary remnants. In addition, flies are capable of nociception, which means they feel pain and respond to extreme stimuli.
Flies also have a complex visual system. Their eyes are compound, which means they have the equivalent of 1,000 eyes. Flies are also able to see in bright light, which helps them escape from predators. Their vision is much faster than ours, which allows them to perceive the world as a single image.
Similarly to humans, flies have several muscles that work together to help them fly. The first is the tonic muscle, which acts constantly to keep the fly in perfect trim, while the second is the phasic muscle, which acts when the fly needs to make a rapid maneuver.