Originally Posted by
johnwash1
Have you heard of pigeon flies? I hadn't, until some years ago. I was getting ready for a nice casserole and this fly suddenly zoomed lazily around the room and landed on my hand. Naturally I smacked it one, expecting to sweep it off the floor. Not a bit of it. It ignored me and flew off for another gentle circuit.
I felt like I was in a scene from an Alien movie. Looking it up I found these critters are well known to taxidermists[*]. They live in pigeon nests and have bodies made of chitin, much like fleas, so they're hard to crush.[*] (and there's another idea for what you could do with your pigeon next time!)