Where Do Fruit Flies Come From?

Video Transcript

"That fruit's been sitting on the counter for a while, and now it's a little bit brown, smells a little bit over-ripe, and in addition to that, it's got fruit flies. I'm Janice Creneti, and I'm here to answer the question: where do fruit flies come from? Well, fruit flies, like all other living things, come from a living thing. So, fruit flies come from other fruit flies. But why do they seem to show up out of nowhere? Well, there's a couple of reasons that it seemed that way. First of all, fruit flies are very, very small. Smaller even than the common fly that you might see flying around your trash can. So fruit fly eggs are very, very tiny. You could barely see them even if you're looking for them. They go through the process of metamorphosis. Those eggs turn into a larva, and then the larva eventually turn into the adult flies. The adult flies are going to be attracted to your over-ripe fruit because over-ripe fruit is higher in sugar, and that's what the fruit flies really like. The longer fruit sits out, the more sugar content increases, and when it particularly gets over-ripe, very high sugar content. If you've ever eaten an almost brown banana, you can attest to that. The flies are crazy about it. So the trick is to get rid of the fruit, and then you'll get rid of the fruit flies. I'm Janice Creneti and this is Where Do Fruit Flies Come From."