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Article: The things wings do.(insect wings)
- Article from:
- Highlights for Children
- Article date:
- July 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Highlights for Children, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Insect wings have many different shapes and colors. They also have different uses.
Most insects have two pairs of wings, with one pair behind the other. These wings are used for flying, of course. But wings can help an insect in other ways, too.
Flying
How fast can an insect fly?
That depends on the size and speed of the wings. Houseflies can go fast because they have small wings that flap quickly.
The same is true for honeybees. A honeybee can flap its small wings 225 times each second, and it can fly fourteen miles an hour. That's fast for an insect.
But butterflies drift from flower to flower. They flap ...