Summary
Instead of laying lots of eggs, a tsetse fly grows a single large baby inside her body and feeds it a kind of milk. Deep Look reveals one of the most unusual life cycles in the insect world.
Viewer safety
Deep Look films tiny creatures in extreme macro close-up, so a squeamish class may find this one intense -- preview if that's a concern.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
Most insects lay many eggs, but a tsetse fly raises one larva at a time inside her body, nourishing it with a milky fluid until it's nearly full-grown. Then she deposits it to burrow and become a pupa. It's a rare insect life cycle closer to how some mammals care for young.
- How is the tsetse fly's way of having babies different from most insects?
- How does the mother feed her single growing baby?
- Why might having one well-fed baby work as well as laying many eggs?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: larva, pupa, reproduce, life cycle.
Try it: Draw two rows: many tiny eggs vs. one big tsetse baby. Write how each strategy helps the young survive.