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Sticker of Sheep botfly
Bug card No. 1209 of 1,500

Sheep botfly

Oestrus ovis
Eats: It lives off other animalsFlies and mosquitoesHouses and farms6 legs

The sheep botfly is a hairy grey fly about the size of a bee. It has a strange way of raising its babies: the mother puts tiny larvae into a sheep's nose. They grow up inside the nose and later drop to the ground.

Lives in
Almost everywhere there are sheep and goats, in the Americas, around the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa and Australia
Length
1 to 1.2 cm (0.39 to 0.47 in)
Top speed
about 9.8 km/h (6.1 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting
It does not bite or sting, but very rarely it can put larvae in a person's nose. A doctor can easily fix that, so tell a grown-up if a fly buzzes at your face on a sheep farm.
What does it eat?
The grown-up flies do not eat at all, they only sip water. The larvae live in the noses of sheep and goats and feed there.
For real!Photo of Sheep botfly
Picture by https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/d0/5d/b7d3d4aa4c1063b23c9669a01cb3.jpg Gallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0022564.html Wellcom. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Sheep botfly about 1.2 cm long (0.47 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
as long as 2 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 39 secondsmoves 230 times its own body length every second

How big is Sheep botfly compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The mother does not lay eggs. Her babies hatch inside her, and she drops them into a sheep's nose while flying.

2

Sheep know its buzzing sound. They run away, or stand in a circle with their noses close to the ground.

3

A grown-up fly lives only 2 to 4 weeks.

4

The larva can grow to 2 centimetres before it leaves the nose.

5

In warm weather the larvae grow in about a month, but in cold places it can take 10 months.

you asked

Most asked questions about Sheep botfly

?Can a sheep botfly hurt people?

Very rarely it puts larvae in a person's nose. It is easy for a doctor to treat.

?Where does a sheep botfly lay its eggs?

It does not lay eggs. It drops tiny live larvae into the noses of sheep and goats.

?Do sheep botflies eat?

The grown-ups do not eat, they only drink a little water.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Oestrus ovis
Named by
Linnaeus, 1758
Group
Flies and mosquitoes
Family
Oestridae
Classification
Insecta > Diptera > Oestridae
Lives on
North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Sheep bot fly

Where the facts come from

  1. Oestrus ovis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/d0/5d/b7d3d4aa4c1063b23c9669a01cb3.jpg Gallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0022564.html Wellcom. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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