{"id":1706,"date":"2022-03-24T17:56:29","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T17:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interestinganimalfacts.com\/?p=1706"},"modified":"2022-03-25T22:20:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T22:20:33","slug":"how-many-eyes-does-a-fly-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interestinganimalfacts.com\/how-many-eyes-does-a-fly-have\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Eyes Does A Fly Have?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
You have probably heard someone tell you that flies have millions of eyes, which helps them to see far more, and perceive motion far faster than humans can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, this isn’t totally the reality – flies don’t have ocular systems like we do – they have two separate systems, one to sense light and once to sense motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this article, we will take a closer look into the visual system of a fly, and answer once and for all ‘how many eyes does a fly have’. Read on to find out more about fly’s eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a common urban myth that flies have millions of eyes. However, this isn\u2019t technically true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have ever seen a fly up close, you will be familiar with their two, large bulbous and glittering ‘eyes’ on the side of their head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These strange looking components are what’s known as ‘compound eyes’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Essentially, this boils down to these eyes being made up of many tiny eyes. Each of these tiny eyes is called a facet, and there are hundreds of these facets in each fly’s head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that they can see very well even though they have smaller eyes than us – which can make it difficult to catch a fly with your hands – as they can perceive motion far faster than us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Insects have compound eyes. Compound eyes form a 3D image which is a combination of thousands of images received by thousand photoreceptors present within a single compound eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The resolution of the image created is quite low compared to a single aperture eye (which is the kind of eye that we have). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the compound eye gives flies and other insects a larger area of vision (so they can see motion in nearly their whole environment). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also gives them the ability to detect movements around them much more quickly than would be possible with a single aperture eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This helps flies and other insects to respond quickly to any movement nearby. This makes it difficult to catch them, as they can detect even the slightest motion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flies are often a prey animal – eaten by other animals such as bats and birds – so these compound eyes have evolutionarily developed to give them an advantage that can help them survive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compound eyes are made up of lenses and receptors. There are basically two types of compound eyes: apposition, and superposition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apposition eyes form several inverted images, while superposition eyes form a single image (like our eyes). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flies have two large compound eyes, which have been specially designed to provide them with good visions (especially when compared to the vision of other insects). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall – flies have only two eyes, and thousands of eyes at the same time. As they have two large compound eyes, the number of facets in each eye is equivalent to a thousand of human eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some flies also have ocelli eyes on the top of their head, which sense changes in light, rather than movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n