Fighting fruit fly males

In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, fighting is observed among males as well as females. This movie shows a key feature of male aggression: the lunge. While lunging, the attacking male raises up on his hind legs. He then snaps down on its opponent, whom he tries to grab with his forelegs, thereby reaching accelerations of approx. 30 m /sec2. If successful, he holds on while the attacked fly tries to escape. Hoyer et al., Current Biology 18(3), 159-167.