If you do not think me a bit nutty already, then be warned: the following may have you calling the men in white coats.
然而,作为一个勇敢的大大小小的生物爱好者,我冒着永远被单独监禁在软垫房里的风险,甚至冒着被认为是理想主义者、极端主义者和浪漫主义者的名声的风险,向我的人类同胞们提出了以下建议,告诉他们如何对那些我们通常不屑一顾的事情抱有同情心。也就是说,我提供了这个建议,告诉你如何拯救那个可怕的闯入者的生命,以及所有令人讨厌的象征:苍蝇。
Here is how you do it:Move really, really,reallyslowlyand catch the fly in a jar or cup or even in your hand (if you do it gently).
Yes, I said that right. Forget the Karate Kid and the lightning-quick chopsticks! Use a slow hand instead.
Apparently, flies can only see things moving if they move quickly. By moving like a slug rather than at mock speed, you can “sneak up” on the fly, which is essentially blind to your movement as you approach. I have found it most effective, and safest, to catch them by the wings rather than the body. But however you do it, do itslowly.一旦你抓住了这只苍蝇,你就可以友好而愉快地把它带到外面去——练习昆虫版的“捕捉和释放”。”
Some would-be fly savers have offered other methods, all of them involving quick motion;here is one example from WikiHow.com.但采用“慢手”方法的好处(除了是为了向伟大的埃里克·克莱普顿致敬)是,过快的动作和无意的挤压对苍蝇造成的危险较小。
And the flies seem to recognize your kindness, at least as far as I can tell. They often sort of relax and ride along as you carry them; sometimes they even walk around on your hand if you do not quite catch them.
Now, if you are to utilize this method of catching and saving a fly, you must first overcome your by-now natural/instinctual reaction to sentence any and all of these buzzing “pests” to a de facto death. You must resist grabbing the flyswatter just in case my discussion of them alone is enough to evoke them from the ether, to call them up out of that infernal cesspool they surely mutate out of. You must avoid plugging in the bug zapper so that you can gloat with glee as they fly into the light and get fried to a crisp.
No, my fellow humans, issuing a bounty on the head of every single fly is not the action of a compassionate caretaker,of a modern-day King Ashoka, but of a heavy-handed tyrant. Becoming a bounty hunter, with the only reward being the satisfaction of squashing the beast and silencing the buzz, is not the action of a steward and caretaker of other living beings.
No, my fellow humans, killing flies as fast as we can swing the swatter is not sustainable or humane…even if our efforts seem to do nothing to reduce the numbers of flies buzzing just about anywhere and everywhere we happen to be.
So the next time you see a fly crawling around your window or hear one buzzing around in your kitchen, try to have a big heart…and a slow hand!
Image credit:AlvesgasparatWikimedia Commons.
jaxinsays
I never knew flies couldn’t see slow moving objects. Kinda like Dino’s eh?
I’ll have to remember that the next time one is buzzing around! I “catch and release” all insects I find in my home. Or sometimes I just let them be if they are harmless.
Anniesays
Just wondering — if a fly cannot things that move slowly, how does it avoid flying into trees, buildings, rocks, the ground telephone poles, etc.?
Justin Van Kleecksays
安妮,我希望我能完整地回答你的问题……我不是一个科学专家,所以我在帖子中含糊其辞。我在阿莱斯特·克劳利的一篇文章中发现了"看不清移动缓慢的东西"他是一个臭名昭著的黑人魔术师,信不信由你。我忘记他是怎么解释的了,但这与苍蝇的大脑处理从眼睛接收到的图像的方式有关。
不管这个解释在科学上是否正确,它肯定是有效的。
jsavagesays
Thanks for the tid bit! I’m with Annie — how do flies avoid stationary objects?
joesays
OK, following the same logic, are you going to try to protect the microbes living (and dying) in your gut?
Justin Van Kleecksays
Annie and J (and anyone else wondering about fly vision), here is the scoop on why flies cannot see slow motion.Flies see 200 images per second, and for comparison a TV screen shows 24 images per second, so that a fly would see on the screen distinct still images separated by black space.If you apply that to movement, then, it seems to make sense that a fly would only see things IN MOTION if they move quickly. Otherwise, if they move slowly, then to the fly they would appear to be still. So this would imply that the fly is not actually blind, but it is “blind” to the slow motion.
And Joe…please. Following the same logic, I do not plan to stick my arm down my throat and go chasing after microbes in my gut.
Jordan Nsays
What do I do if the fly can’t fly? Do I still let it out
khall45says
Contact me if you are still alive – Over a decade long ago.
Lisasays
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You are such an amazing soul. I dont know where to find people like you, i so need that in my life. Literally no one that i have ever met, is like this.
I save every single living being whenever i can and others laugh at me probably thinking im crazy. I couldnt care less though. Just now i gave sugar to a fly that was about to die in my house. I try to teach people i know to have compassion but its not easy.
People are taught since childhood to kill insects and when they grow up they do it automatically but they never stand still to why that is necessary! They follow the road that has been shown to them so their hearts in most cases never take a different turn, sadly.
So much violence and pain in the world!!
顺便说一句,我用网来捕捉苍蝇,然后把它们放出去。其他昆虫也是如此。超级简单。
Anyway God bless you.
好好照顾自己,永不改变。