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Green bottle flies are helpful to both people and plants. The flies spread pollen so the plants can grow. For example, they often pollinate the flowers of onions and cabbages. Green bottle flies are also important decomposers. In fact, doctors use their larvae to clean infections. The larvae only eat dead skin. This keeps wounds clean. People can heal faster with the help of fly larvae.

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Without flies, we would not have chocolate. Chocolate is made from the seeds of cocoa trees. Cocoa trees are pollinated by a tiny fly called a midge. Cocoa trees have small flowers. They bloom close to the trunk. Most flies are too big to fit inside. But midges can fly right up into them.

Activities

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Making Connections

Text-to-Self

Have you seen flies before? Where would you expect to find them?

Text-to-Text

Have you read books about other insects? What do they have in common with flies? How are they different?

Text-to-World

Flies can be both helpful and harmful. What might be different if flies were not around?

Teacher Resources

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