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JesseGT t1_itu985o wrote

Reply to comment by blackdragonstory in For us, giants are fiction, for insects they’re a reality by Purple_burglar_alarm

I’d love to know the answer but I think they just don’t live long enough for us to truly know. When your lifespan is a couple months it’s just what you can do and what’s worked, maybe for that fly that was out in the open never encountered something that could reach it, if it had only fucked with dogs it thinks just land on the top of a cabinet or something, human comes never seen one and BAM big self high five and it’s no more…

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blackdragonstory t1_itu9ll4 wrote

I guess but let's say you wack one,then the other the third and others are watching. They should be able to adapt. Some flys that I would call stupid but unwilling to die are the flys that don't want to land at all,they keep flying,they land somewhere for a few seconds and then again. It's like they know the house is a bad place for flys and desperately wants out. Or maybe I am looking too much i to this lel.

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Kajamaz t1_ituhyo2 wrote

Idk, I've setup fly traps and it kills each and every single one of them. They fly into a small container filled with hundreds of dead fruit flys, don't think twice, and die in it as well. So much for adaptability.

Tbh they're just super awesome tiny biological machines really.

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blackdragonstory t1_ituo5pq wrote

Maybe they can't tell those flys are dead. And since they live for so short they are prob not experienced enough to know it's a trap.

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ChrysMYO t1_itv0nrk wrote

I dont think they learn in that way. I think they react to stimuli more then plan and anticipate. I think you have to move up to rodents and small lizards before you get any animal planning based on past memories.

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ApexHolly t1_itv5uzj wrote

Actually, scientists discovered that jumping spiders (cute lil things) have abstract memory, and are able to remember hazards they've previously encountered, as well as take the long way to their target if they think it would be safer. Which indicates that they at least have a rudimentary understanding of cause and effect, allowing them to plan. They also have great vision. There's a video of a jumping spider watching a helicopter overhead.

Having said that, jumping spiders, according to presently available data, seem to be along the upper edge of what "bug" cognition can do, and certainly smarter than the majority of spiders. Although spiders already tend to be fairly smart when compared to other bugs, such as flies.

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ChrysMYO t1_itvekcv wrote

Really good point. Yeah I could see a few spiders being able to plan and learn.

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JesseGT t1_ituagco wrote

I think we are looking into it to much hence it being a “shower thought” but with that being said and also we just see flys, chances are there are different types of flys but they just look the same to our human eye, like blow flys are bigger and slow so you can slap the shit out of them… maybe there’s quicker ones and I know they dodge you because of air pressure

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JesseGT t1_ituair5 wrote

If you sort of clap above the fly in an upward motion chances are you’ll get it!

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