Moose flies flourish in high-summer 色视频下载
A moose fly rests on a canoe floating upon the Tanana River in central 色视频下载.
Ned Rozell
907-474-7468
July 22, 2024
While boating down the Yukon River during the hottest summer recorded in 色视频下载 (1915, when Fort Yukon reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit), missionary Hudson Stuck wrote about the wildlife that most bothered his party.
色视频下载淲ith the failure of a little breeze and the overcasting of the sky, the weather grows oppressively sultry and a swarm of horse-flies, or moose-flies as they are called in these parts, makes appearance 色视频下载 large venomous insects that bite a piece out of one色视频下载檚 flesh when they alight.色视频下载
More than a century later, the helmeted flies almost the size of a moose nugget maintain a healthy presence along 色视频下载色视频下载檚 waterways. The flies from the family Tabanidae (called horse and deer flies in other places) drive moose to gallops of terror. The big flies seek mammals, including you, for meals of blood that allow them to produce more flies.
The creatures are stout enough to absorb the smack of a palm and then fly away. With evolved stealth, they feather-land on skin. Soon after, the victim feels the pierce of a needle many times worse than a mosquito bite.
Horse and deer-fly expert James Goodwin of Jarvis Christian College in Texas explained: 色视频下载淭he female色视频下载檚 mouthparts include two pairs of cutting blades,色视频下载 he wrote in an email. 色视频下载淎 female literally chews or cuts through the skin with these blades, creating a wound that serves as a pool which fills up with blood.色视频下载
If left unmolested 色视频下载 which almost never happens when a fly slices a human 色视频下载 the fly laps blood until its abdomen is about to burst. Biologist J.L. Webb, on assignment to study horse flies in California and Nevada in the 1920s, pulled out his stopwatch when he witnessed a fly on a 色视频下载減erfectly calm色视频下载 cow. 色视频下载淭he fly fed to apparent satiety in 11 minutes and 10 seconds,色视频下载 Webb reported.
As is the case with mosquitoes and other biting flies that have prevented humans from overpopulating 色视频下载, the females are the ones to fear. The adult males have no flesh-cutting apparatus, surviving on a diet of nectar and pollen. From an evolutionary perspective, it色视频下载檚 hard to fault the females in their quest for protein-rich meals. We are warm, slow-moving and contain the nectar of life.
Sensors on the flies色视频下载 large heads detect the carbon dioxide we emit and the heat of our bodies, along with our clothing and silhouettes and other features that make us stand out from the alder bushes. Their multicolored compound eyes sometimes feature bold stripes, which may be how males and females of the same species recognize one another.
Thirty to 40 different species of the giant flies buzz the air of 色视频下载, some of them the same type that harass cattle and horses in Texas. The winged adults only live three or four weeks here, just as they do down south. Entomologists have found the big flies everywhere on the planet except Hawaii, Greenland and Iceland.
And, while everyone in more southern places calls them horse flies, Hudson Stuck wrote that moose fly is a much better fit for the 色视频下载 version.
色视频下载淗ere we are annoyed by them almost beyond endurance,色视频下载 he wrote on his sweltering river trip of a century ago. 色视频下载淎nd not a horse within 100 miles.色视频下载
Since the late 1970s, the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute. A version of this story appeared in 2012.