International Year of the Fly: Why flies are important

Not many people are fond of flies.

You might think they're disgusting, spread disease and irritate you during family BBQs, and admittedly all of those things could be true, but they're also pretty amazing too.

2019 is International Year of the Fly. Who knew!? So with just a few days left of the year remaining, here's why you should give flies a second chance in 2020.

Did you know that without flies, you wouldn't have had any chocolate in your Christmas advent calendar?

Dr Erica McAlister is the Senior curator of fleas and flies at the Natural History Museum in London. She knows everything there is to know about flies.

Explaining how they help to make things like chocolate, which comes from cacao beans, Erica says: "Flies are incredibly important pollinators because, although they're not as efficient as bees, they keep doing it again and again and are very, very hard working.

"They are really important for food - all the [pollinated] wild flowers feed the smaller mammals, that are then fed on by the larger mammals, everything is dependant on the flies."

And if you still think flies are pretty gross, then you'd be right. They're also needed to get rid of things that have to decompose, like poo.

Dr Erica McAlister knows a LOT about flies

Erica says there are loads of different types of flies. To be fair, some are ugly, but as flies go, Erica reckons some are actually pretty good looking.

For example she says there are big fluffy ones, ones that are different colours with green metallic bodies and others have wings that shine in the light.

The British species list has over 7000 different types of flies on it. That's more than the number of all the different species of mammals on the entire planet.

Eric says she wants people to realise "how amazing these tiny little creatures that you ignore or just try and kill everyday are. I think flies are amazing and I think you should find them amazing too."

Why not test yourself with this fun quiz to find out more amazing facts about creepy crawlies.