Hi!

They are certainly horse flies.
Here there are two wonderful images:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_fly


I don't know how the trick is done but perhaps he put them in a freezer for some minutes. Insects become letargic when refrigerated. I agree that juggling the ball is a reflex action. Perhaps they are glued to the table!

Yeah, you can tell a fly by its face, even though they often disguise themselves as wasps so you won't squish them.

And I think he flipped them upside-down with a small magnet.

Yeah, you can tell a fly by its face, even though they often disguise themselves as wasps so you won't squish them... BAHAHAHAHAHA!


And I think he flipped them upside-down with a small magnet... BAHAHHAHAHAHA!...oh, I get it. Small magnets. Horse flies. Made them swallow miniature horse shoes so the magnets would have something to work with (cause last time I checked, no part of a horse fly was magnetic)...

You people are KILLIN' me, I'm tellin' ya!...

I'm sure flies could be trained to do something or other-- even flatworms can be trained to run simple mazes-- but to juggle balls? I agree that it's got to be a reflex action.

It could be down to the hand movement.

If you spiral* in on a fly on a wall, they stay there.

You do wind up with your finger very close to a fly wondering what now, but that may be fun for some.

Perhaps circular movement gives strange results for compound eyes?

Peter

*Oh alright it's a concentric helix

Well if they can train flies to do <a >this</a>...

I agree with Alex and the comments above, definately looks like a hoax. Something used to sedate the flies and then it's a reflex action.

StarLizard, i think you misread the article you posted. The wasps are not trained, it's that the machine can detect a change in their movements/behavior once they detect a certain odor. But still quite interesting...

...and i hate bugs

oops, maybe i read the article too fast. i guess they are actually trained. sorry StarLizard..

No sweat Grain
And I LOVE bugs.
Well most of the time anyway.

no I don't they are under the influence of any sedative. I heard somewhere that it's a survival reaction for flies when they see a large object coming toward them they

A) Fly away

B) use their second defence (also found in goats) the brain freezes up for 1-7 seconds (subconciously, they have no control over it) in which giving the look that they have suddenly rolled over and died

looks like this person has mastered the direction to come at them in which they panic and go straight to plan B

As for the juggling, it's a reflex, the brain kicking back in or just simply trying to get up

but I've never seen a fly do plan B so It's probably a theory

I agree the people who say the flies haven't been drugged...I used sedated flies in my lab and they're pretty useless, they just fall over and twitch. But the "juggling" could definitely be some sort of reaction (I just don't know how the guy gets the flies to roll over in the first place).

Christopher, I was suggesting a small earth-magnet glued to the bottom of the fly, or even just some kind of metallic paint applied to them.

Damn! I thought it was a reference to the "goldfish in formation" post about the fish having magnets to keep them in place! I thought you were making a joke! Noooooooo!

I once had an aquarium snail that would come to the edge of the water when I fed my goldfish. The snail would pull back his little face from the glass and let me drop little chunks of fish flakes down his gullet. You could see the stuff working its way down his gut. I never did get him to juggle his balls between his legs, tho. Mainly because snails don't have balls. Or legs

Alex, surely you're aware of flea circuses. One can really train fleas to (for instance) jump through a hoop or pull a tiny cart.

Why not flies?

My husband is an entomologist and said after seeing the film that the flies were most likely put into a freezer for a few minutes and placed on their backs on the table. Then when they woke up a person was circling their fingers above them (so this part of the tape was played in reverse giving the look of the flies rolling over to "play dead). He also said that the only way you could get flies to stay still long enough to juggle those balls would be to glue them to the table while they were cold. Then you could allow them to wake up and put a ball on their feet, which they would "walk" on in the fruitless attempt to right themselves. In other words, "No you cannot teach a fly to do that."

These are not my words but they are true: "It

they look dead

HA HA I GOTTA KICK OUTA THIS ONE ..LOL..THIS LOOKS LIKE SOME CHEEZY JAPENESE COMMERCIAL....

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