Flies riding on a carousel suggest that insects like to play

Some fruit flies seem to enjoy whizzing around on a carousel in what may be a form of play.

Many animals, such as dogs and gorillas, appear to play regularly, but it is unclear how common such behaviour is in insects and other invertebrates. Last year, researchers found that bumblebees roll wooden balls around in the first evidence of insect play.

Tilman Triphan and Wolf Huetteroth at the University of Leipzig in Germany have now found that fruit flies ( …