Have you ever wondered why a fly is so hard to swat? Of course you did. You’ve surely tried it yourself. The findings of a recent study carried out by researchers in United States make clearer the fly’s ability to avoid so easily being squashes. The key words to describe the insect’s ability are: a fast acting brain and the capability to plan ahead.

The study was published in the August 28th issue of the journal Current Biolog. Researchers recorded a fruit fly with a high-speed video camera as it was dodging a swat and analyzed its reactions.

The fact that a fly has almost 360 degree vision makes a sneak from behind almost impossible. The fly identifies the swatter’s position and gets into an escaping stance in about 100 milliseconds. Essentially, it leans in the direction opposite to the swatter’s position which makes it easier to perform its ultra fast evasive maneuvers.

"Our experiments showed that the fly somehow 'knows' whether it needs to make large or small postural changes,” Caltech's Professor Michael Dickinson said according to BBC News.

The slow motion recordings of swatting attempts showed that a fly calculates the swatter’s position and the escape plan long before actually dodging it. A fly puts it body into pre-flight mode within 100 milliseconds and it does not matter whether it’s grooming or feeding.

Apparently, the best way to swat a fly is to sneak on it slowly and outmaneuver it by aiming ahead of its location, scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) conclude.