Besides being the carrier of disease, what purpose do flies have in the animal kingdom?

Question

Other insects have a purspose, like bees and ants. What do flies do to help in the scheme of things?

Answer 1

Flies that bite are especially harmful, because they can transmit disease-causing

tsetse fly
A female Tsetse fly
Image source: Peggy Greb, USDA
pathogens, such as when the mosquito spreads malaria. Parasitic worms that cause blindness are carried by black flies. Worldwide in their distribution, swarms of flies seem to always appear. Sweat flies, houseflies, gnats, mosquitoes, black flies, sand flies, biting midges, horse flies, stable flies, tsetse flies, and robber flies -- to name only a few -- may move from the eyes to nose to mouth of person to person from wounds to sores from food to drink to feces transferring typhoid, dysentery, cholera, sleeping sickness, and West Nile virus -- to abbreviate the list. Is it any wonder that flies have often been considered the wrath or judgment of God.

On the other hand, second only to the bees and wasps, flies serve the useful function of pollination of flowers with nectar. [15] Though the thought may be infrequent, some flies are useful: (1) tachinid flies parasitize (prey on) the harmful gypsy moth, and (2) the fruit fly (Drosophilia melanogaster) is widely used in experiments concerning the functioning of genes and chromosomes. [16] Professor Thomas H. Morgan of Columbia University pioneered the subject of heredity in the field of genetics using the tiny fruit fly (Drosophilia). Ease of handling, low expense, as well as, requiring only ten days to complete a generation, made the fruit fly especially suitable for scientists to observe several lifetimes of heredity. [17]

Answer 2

It's true that they carry disease but that is not their purpose...we just happen to be affected by what they carry...birds do the same too, they carry disease. When you come to think of it, so does any other creature, they carry disease. It just depends on which affects human species. Flies are part of this world to live like any other living things. One thing that they do is they help break down your body when you die by making you the host of their eggs so when the eggs become larvae, they will feed on you. They are scavengers. They are also part of the food chain. Fish likes them, frogs like them, birds like them too!!! Best way to clean cadavers is to put a bucket of maggots on them. Medical people know this. Although some people hate flies, they are part of this world, they may even be older than human civilizations just like cockroaches are!! We're the new kids in the block. So, just because we rule now, and you don't like them, think again when bees will rule the world and we are the few surviving specie.

Answer 3

They help the decomposition process and become food for other animals. Because flies speed up the decomposition process they may reduce the number of diseases and prevent disease from forming.

They could help boost the immune system by subjecting animals to small amount of disease though contamination. The fly could be like natures flu shot.

Answer 4

In addition to being an essential part of the food chain, some species of flies spread pollen, hasten the decomposition of plants, animals, and dung, and, in the case of about 5000 species of Tachina flies, eat other insects.

Answer 5

They provide food for some animals that actually help humans like the frogs. Some people think frogs are yukky but when you have alot of frogs around that means you live in a rather clean and healthy environment.

Answer 6

I'm not sure about faces in particular, but I believe birds are some of the most beautiful animals there are. My budgies have extremely cute faces, one has a mean face and my cockateil had such a beautiful face I could watch her for so long, but I'm not sure others would find her face more then cute, it was my love for her making me see her in the best way possible:)

Answer 7

no animal has to have a purpose. organisms exist because they can survive. for example, what do viruses do but to kill other organism and replicate. that isn't some job that makes the ecosystem flow. its just the way they found best to live. that is what an ecosystem is, the malgamation of the way a bunch of organisms live in an environment.

Answer 8

i do not think flies are a good thing to have to be around at all.. they are pest and i literally dislike them.. and i do not have the faintest idea what they are good for.. they irritate people.. they swarm your food, disturb your picnics..so i am at a loss what they are good for..but i can tell you what a good flyswatter is good for... actually thank god i do not have flies in my home.. i live in a apartment, and i am very clean.. and i do not want to brag cause i use to have them when my kids were young..they would come in every time the kids went in or out...

Answer 9

Yea well they've covered all of the important stuff up there,
but your question made me remember one time when I was really pissed at all the flies and I said "Who likes flies??" and my friend ever-so-simply said "poo."

=X I thought it was funny.

Answer 10

they help in the break down of organic matter...funny how things that can repulse us do help promote our lives.