Insects

Why Do Flies Rub Their Hands Together?

why do flies rub their s together

In this article, we will share the details that surround why flies rub their hands together. Flies mostly identified as house fly are species of insects that have a pair of six legs, most of which undergo so many stages of physical development, as well as adults, they have a feature of a single set of wings.

It is also necessary to note that there are different species of flies, although these different species of flies look alike, they have tiny bodies and best identified by the differences or variations in the colour of their bodies and in their sizes.

The house fly which also is the Musca domestica, by its scientific name or binominal name is however a recent symbol that illustrates taxon. In addition, house flies are practically everywhere in the world which probably is a good thing, and perhaps nature has a perfect reason for that.

Notwithstanding their identity or presence everywhere, different species of house flies are basically considered to be the carriers of several diseases, and are usually avoided by all means. Amazingly, although they are infamous in very continent across the globe, there is no exact thing that is wrong or found negative in the house fly biologically speaking.

We all dislike the buzzing sound of the different species of flies as well as how they could perch around us or even on us. Sometime, a tiktok video trended with a woman telling guys to stop licking their lips and rubbing their hands together while trying to win a lady over or to simply ask a lady out. In the video the woman specifically asked such guys to not be like house flies by rubbing their hands and licking their lips.

Why do flies really rub their hands?

If you have really taken time to observe the house flies when they perch, they seem to be rubbing their hands endlessly irrespective of the species of fly it could be. It just appears to be endlessly rubbing its hands.

House Flies are very Clean Species of Insects

When you see any species of house fly, notice that is rubbing its hands as well as rubbing its limbs. Also, the housefly brushes its wings as well as its hands it also rubs its hinds’ legs together as well.

However, this behaviour of the different species of houseflies is mostly noticed during the seasons when the climate is under the influence of a hot temperature. It is necessary to understand that the house flies also rub their legs together, and when they do, it is usually to keep them clean.

This is difficult to accept especially because most of the times the different species of flies could be putrid, and is mostly seen in dirty areas, or around waste corners, which even makes it very difficult to explain that the housefly is only trying to keep clean.

More so, house flies have a routine of removing both physical and chemical deposits through the cycle of grooming, and they as well clean the recipients of scent. A careful understudy of their routine shows that constantly cleaning its receptor is an important part of its activities.

Throughout the life cycle of the species of housefly, as they go through the activities of hunting for food, mating, flying, or anything at all, the species of housefly will always want to keep clean which accounts for why they rub their hands together. More details about this will be shared in the succeeding sections.

How flies really clean

When a house fly is soaked in mud or anything dirty, the fly takes its time rubbings its hands and legs together to keep clean. It often takes a lot of time; however, they get clean in the end. For the time being, some scientists have observed other series of motions of cleaning in which they begin the cleaning process by washing the head before they proceed to washing the other parts of the bodies.

Why we should observe the various species of house flies

A series of work that has been recently done shows that there are neurotransmitters which are responsible for the regulation of the cleaning of the different parts of the body of house flies, this cleaning is also done in an order of hierarchy. So the part of the body considered most important is cleaned first, and the others follow.

It is necessary to observe that new information on how the species of house flies carry out their activities can help the various researchers to find out what neural circuits are needed for grooming various species of house flies just like the fruit flies. It has also been discovered that various species of houseflies achieve difficult tasks by complicating their behaviour.

The entire process of cleaning by house flies

From observing the various species of house flies clean up, scientists think that there is need to observe the method the fly implores in cleaning. Most times the fly are seen to fold themselves in, then they begin cleaning from their head, after which they rub their hands together.

Actually, before they begin they first rub their hands and their legs together, then they begin from the head. After cleaning the head, flies clean up their belly, using their hind limbs, they also use that for their chest and their wings. In between cleaning the chest, belly, and wings, the flies’ rests and cleans up its legs. Sometimes it does not start from its head, it just begins anywhere.

Other reasons for which flies constantly rub their hands together

We have in the preceding sections established that flies rub their hands together to keep clean. However, there are other reasons for which the species of house flies rub their hands together and those reasons will be shared in the following sections.

In preparation for its take off flight

Sometimes when the species of housefly seem to be rubbing their hands together, it is an exercise they do in order to plan for a flight psychologically, as well as to be ready for the flight psychologically. The different species of house flies makes sure that the hairs (the tiny hairs) on its limbs and the tiny hairs on its chest are fitted in the process of grooming.

So basically this is because these collection of tiny hairs on the chest of the different species of housefly as well as on the limbs of these species of housefly usually feature in the body of the different species of houseflies as vestibulars. However, the role of vestibulars in the body of the housefly is to provide different species of house fly guidance for the location of each of their limbs.

More so, in addition to serving the houseflies as vestibluars and guiding the location of each limb, the tiny hairs on the chest of the housefly as well as the tiny hairs on its limbs also help to give the different species of houseflies a very good starting by giving it a good lifting, as well as a good flight subsequently. This however, is also why the different species of houseflies are seen to rub their hands together, as well as their limbs.

To Examine itself for any kind of Injury

Apart from keeping clean, and getting ready to take off, the different species of house fly rub their hands together in order to be sure that they are entirely ready. By being ready, it means that they need to be sure that every part of their body is ready.

So when the different species of flies often rub their hands together, it is because they are trying to examine the different parts of their body to be sure that they are ready and that they do not have any kind of injury on its body.

This single act helps they know what to do next. They carry this out even before getting close to the other species of housefly although so that they do not engage in a battle if one of the flies’ touches each other which is usually prone to happen.

The rubbing of hand of the different species of house flies could serve as sensors for taste

In addition to the reasons stated earlier, there is also this one. Notice closely that when different species of flies see food or fruits or any edible at all, they perch on it and then keep rubbing their hands on their foreheads.  However, the different species of houseflies lack the ability to feed on hard foods, so they keep hovering around by perching on the food and rubbing their arms just to see if there is any part of the meal that has begun to decay so that they can start feeding from there.

Furthermore, because the different species of house flies need to feed on something they keep searching the same food or the same fruit. Sometimes, they stick around much longer than is necessary until they find another source of food to taste, then they begin a new process of cleaning up each of their sensors to be sure that they do not by any chances contaminate the new food with their dirty sensor.

Albeit, when the species of houseflies get to the next meal, they repeat the same process and after using their sensor to taste and they still find no food that is soft from decomposing, they start to decompose the food before them by themselves.

To decompose a meal, the different species of flies begin to vomit their saliva on the food. Yes saliva! The different species of house flies have saliva stored up in their stomach.  This act by the different species of house flies are poisonous to humans because they come in contact with dirt, and as a result with viruses that they transmit when they perch on your food after perching on those other places. So even though we have established that flies are clean insects, we also know that their mode of life opens them up to danger.

House flies rub their hands together in search for a fresh smell

One of the reasons different species of flies rub their hands together is to also do away with the old scents and get a fresh smell. It is important to know the different species of flies are drawn to things smell.

Although the different species of house flies are drawn to dirt, waste, refuse dump, food, and a few other things, they do not need to wear a particular scent or smell for so long. Whether it is the smell from watermelon, from any food at all or from the waste, or defecations, or refuse dumps.

This is because the different species of house flies are usually hunted by some predators that recognize the smell and track the houseflies down because those species of predators are innate, so the different species of houseflies need to stay away from every form of smell and stay clean in order for them to survive because their survival depends greatly on that.

Different species of houseflies Walk through various surfaces

When you carefully observe the different species of house flies and their flights, you will notice that the different species of flies do not fly very high, and that they perch more often than not, and that they crawl or rather the different species of flies walk through different surfaces.

The fly is not designed to be a very high flier, and it is not always on the ground because it has sticky limbs that will not let it fly. However, the different species of house flies crawl or walk on the ground and to really do that, the different species of the flies by the tiny hairs on its chest, as well as the tiny hairs on its limbs are able to walk through various surfaces and they rub their hands together in the process.

For the dissipation of heat

The scorching sun usually generates a very cold atmosphere that is too hot for humans to bear let alone little insects like the various species of house flies. Notice that during the day, you are more likely to find the various species of house flies seeking shelter under trees that are as thick as the mango trees, or even in human homes, it is because they need some sort of shelter or covering from the sun as well as from the hot temperature that comes from the sun.

However, apart from staying away from open places and seeking shelter to avoid the heat of the sun, the various species of house flies also have other ways through which they survive the period of heat. The various species of house flies dissipate the heat that comes from the hot sun using the tiny hairs of their chest, on their limbs, and generally on their bodies.

This is because the various species of house flies have another surface on the hairs that helps the flies keep the heat from the hot temperature away. To achieve this feat, the various species of flies rub their hands together as well as their limbs in the process so that the task of the surface of the hairs is complete.

For the purposes of Self-protection

In addition to all of the reasons that have been shared here, different species of flies also rub their hands as well as their limbs together in order for them to protect themselves from dirt, predators and a few other things that could put them in harm’s way. Sometimes, the different species of flies could be seen folding their body, a process with which the various species of flies use to clean up. In the process, the flies could remove some of the hairs that should be on their heads.

However, many scientists have also discovered that there are fibers that are mounted around the eyes of the various species of house fly which actually has the ability to divert almost about ninety percent of very proper ventilation out of the surface of the eye.

This implies that the different hairs on the head are very important for the survival of the various species of house flies, and this also implies that hairs on the head of the various species of house flies are more delicate. Now, because the hairs on the head are more significant, the different species of housefly pays more attention to them and so it rubs its hands and its legs to achieve the feat.

Conclusion

Although we hate the buzzing sounds of the fly, and that we do not consider it clean especially because it is mostly attracted by dirt and putrid, the rubbing of hands by the different species of house flies has given us an insight to the life style of the various species of house flies.

It is also necessary to note that although the various species are prone to contract viruses, they strive for a personal hygiene and are not as foolish or as terrible as we think they are. (This does not mean that I have started entertaining buzzing flies, I drive them out myself.)