Why flies deserve our respect

From Afternoons, 3:07 pm on 8 May 2018
Erica McAlister, a curator of flies at the Natural History Museum

Erica McAlister, a curator of flies at the Natural History Museum Photo: Twitter

For most of us, it's hard to come up with a list of things to love about flies, they're annoying, they bite, they spread disease.   

But for Dr Erica McAlister, curator of Diptera at the Natural History Museum in London, flies are endlessly fascinating and important.

Afterall, there are 17 million flies for every person on earth so we ignore them at our peril  She shares the hidden world of flies and why they are worthy of our respect instead of our disdain in her book, The Secret Life Of Flies. 

Flies fly around in squares, not circles

Photo: Wikicommons