My greenhouse is infested with fruit flies. I don't really mind as all that is left in there are overripe tomatoes and they are welcome to them. They are fascinating little things with beautiful red eyes. For decades these little creatures have been at the cutting edge of genetics and in the wild there are many different species and within those species hundreds of weird and wonderful mutations.
Some have white eyes and in others eyes are sepia coloured, some have no wings and there are even individual with legs where antennae should be.
Mutations occur naturally as a matter of chance but many of these mutants have been produced in laboratories by exposing flies to radiation or to mutagenic chemicals. Such experiments have advanced our understanding of the way that genes work and no-one has ever complained that these creatures have been badly done by. There are no fruit fly liberation groups, or save the fruit fly campaigns. People do not get excited about genetic manipulation when it comes to these little beasts and yet they have been subjected to our attention for so long.
They are easily kept as pets too - all you need to do is mash a banana, put the pulp into a glass bottle and leave it open for a day or so. After that plug it with cotton wool and watch the little dears breed to their hearts content. Within a few days you will find the banana crawling with tiny larvae and a week or so on you will have a brand new crop of flies that think the universe ends in a hard shiny wall. Oddly there will not be any evidence that they are forming groups or societies, they don't fight and they do nat appear to be looking for answers to life the universe and everything. They don't hold meetings and have no economy and yet they seem to rub along quite happily.
Spiders love them too - if you have a pet spider then you can keep her in food all the yearround by maintaining a breeding population of flies. Try it - you know you want to!
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