Fly
Sticky Icky
Yes, flies really do sleep!
Flies need sleep too
That buzzing fly isn't on the go forever.
Scientists have found that flies enter real sleep-like resting states, becoming still and harder to wake.
And those sticky little feet give flies another amazing trick: hanging onto walls and ceilings!
Now You Know!
House flies can perform a super-fast flip to land upside down on a ceiling!
Special structures on their feet help them grip smooth surfaces once they land.
How does a fly sleep?
- How long?
In periods of rest
- When?
Following a daily rhythm
- How?
Very still and less responsive
From Sleep, Nap, Snooze
Sticky Icky
The fly brings sticky feet, ceiling tricks and a very unusual bedtime to Sleep, Nap, Snooze: The Bed Habits of Animals.
Explore the BookKeep snoozing...
- Worker AntHundreds of tiny naps!
- SpiderWait... spiders sleep too?!
- House CatA much longer sleeper!
For parents & teachers
Is this really true? Sources & further reading
Flies have well-established sleep-like states. Research in fruit flies has shown periods of prolonged rest with increased arousal thresholds and other characteristics associated with sleep.
Separately, research into house-fly flight has shown how flies use rapid rotational maneuvers to land upside down on ceilings.
These findings support two fun facts, but they do not necessarily prove that all flies specifically choose to sleep upside down.
Further reading on inverted ceiling landings: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6810462/
- Animal:
- Fly
- Scientific name:
- Diptera (group)
Source: Research on fly sleep and inverted ceiling landings.
Read the research (opens in a new tab)