I'm always looking for new books that deal with nonhuman animals (animals)
with whom I'm unfamiliar. A few months ago I learned about a book by Dr.
Jonathan Balcombe called Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most
Successful Insects—and other than being occasionally bothered by their
incessant and annoying buzzing around my head, I knew little about the
complex behavior or ecological significance of these diverse little critters
as pollinators, waste-disposers, predators, and food sources.1.,2. I also
began looking for more information about flies and learned that some species
have a special hindwing that allows them to take off rapidly to avoid being
swatted.
By reading Super Fly, I learned a lot about these amazing insects,
and I'm pleased that Jonathan could take the time to answer a few questions
about his latest book that focuses on these fascinating winged beings who
are intimately involved in countless webs of life on our magnificent planet.
Here's what he had to say.
MB: Why did you write Super Fly?
JB: I’ve always been fascinated by insects, but they are such an enormous
and hugely successful group of animals that writing a book about all insects
seemed a project more worthy of an encyclopedia than a single book. So I
decided to focus on one group, the flies (order Diptera). I did this for
several reasons, not least that flies are worthy contenders for the most
successful group of animals on the planet. Flies’ astonishing constellation
of lifestyles finds them inhabiting deserts, oceans, polar regions, even
petroleum deposits. There are over 160,000 described species (plus perhaps
five times that many yet to be discovered), and some 20 quadrillion flies
living at any moment on Earth.
Another reason is that flies are omnipresent, and they personally affect
practically everybody. For example, very, very few of us, I suspect, can
claim never to have been bitten by a mosquito. But pesky mosquitoes are just
a tiny slice of the fly pie. Through a combination of science and
storytelling, Super Fly [aims to] present a glittering extravaganza of the
improbable, audacious, and miraculous ways that flies get on in a world that
otherwise only seems to be run by humans.
Most importantly, flies play an indispensable role in the functioning of
healthy ecosystems. If they were to disappear from the face of the Earth,
life as we know it would collapse and we would fall in its wake.
MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of
interest?
JB: I'm ever curious about how other animals might experience their worlds.
As an ethologist—like you, Marc, a biologist who studies animal
behavior—observing what animals do in different situations is an exciting
window into their inner lives.
We may never know exactly what it feels like to be a hungry housefly
exploring a used dinner plate, an amorous male cactus fly squaring off
against a rival male, or a tiny chocolate midge pollinating a cocoa flower.
But by studying and watching them, we can gain insights into how they sense,
think, and feel.
Researching a book like this is full of surprises and rewards. In addition
to sleuthing out gems of knowledge and discovery from the published
scientific literature, I especially enjoyed meeting and interviewing experts
in the field.
MB: Who is your intended audience?
JB: Anybody with an affinity for animals, and certainly those with any
interest in the lives of insects, will enjoy this book. Although flies are
generally not popular with us, the fact that we all have experiences with
flies may generate wide reader interest in this book. Flies are among
nature’s most resourceful entrepreneurs. Their ways of living may generate
wonderment, disgust, admiration, and in some cases even a dash of envy. In
Super Fly, you will find plenty of sex and violence, and even some
celebrity.
MB: What are some of the topics that are woven into your book and what are
some of your major messages?
JB: I’ve organized Super Fly into three main themes:
The first of these includes fly senses, their brains and mental capacities,
and their athleticism—such as wings that beat >1,000 times per second, and
feet that can walk on a ceiling.
In the second theme, we explore flies as parasites and predators,
blood-seekers, pollinators, waste-disposers, and lovers. If you’ve ever
wondered how to make yourself less attractive to a mosquito, how certain
flowers use pornography to manipulate flies, and why some flies have sperm
several times longer than their bodies—this is a book for you.
The third theme gets into flies’ angst-inducing roles as disease vectors and
agricultural “pests,” their beneficial roles in genetics, and as
crime-solvers and wound-healers.
The core and final message of Super Fly is that our planet is a complex
ecosystem and that flies are an indispensable part of that whole. Love them
or hate them, we would perish without them.
MB: How does your book differ from others that are concerned with some of
the same general topics?
JB: All of my books have the overarching goal of advocating for animals and
improving our relationships with them. I do this principally because I adore
animals and I fiercely believe in their right to have places to live and be
themselves. I want future generations—of my fellow humans and other
species—to inhabit a more compassionate, livable planet.
MB: Is there anything else you'd like to tell readers?
JB: The coronavirus pandemic reminds us that we humans are a part of this
planet, not apart from it. It’s time to show a little humility and stop
acting like we own the place. We don’t run the show here, and we ignore that
at our peril. Whether or not we get our act together, we are just temporary
inhabitants. A million years after the last human is gone, a fly will be
perched on a leaf, rubbing her front legs together.
References
Notes
Jonathan Balcombe was born in England, and has lived in New Zealand, the United States, and Canada. A biologist with a PhD in ethology, the study of animal behavior, he is the author of four popular science books on the inner lives of animals, as well as over 60 scientific papers and book chapters on animal behavior and animal protection. Formerly Department Chair for Animal Studies with the Humane Society University, and Director of Animal Sentience with The Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy, he also serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Animal Sentience, and he teaches a course in animal sentience for the Viridis Graduate Institute. He is well known for his book, What A Fish Knows. Jonathan currently lives in southern Ontario, where in his spare time he enjoys biking, baking, birding, Bach, and trying to understand the squirrels in his neighborhood.
Return to Book Reviews