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Flies can feel 'hangry' just like humans according to new research.

A group of scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Oxford University, teamed up to study the behaviour of a group of fruit flies and published their findings in the Animal Behaviour journal.

They found that male fruit flies became angrier and more hostile towards each other when there was a longer wait between meals.

Dr Jen Perry, of UEA's School of Biological Sciences explained: "The hungrier they get, the more combativeness they display.

"In other words, just like humans, fruit flies get 'hangry'."

As part of the experiment, the researchers studied special containers which had male fruit flies in.

Each container was given a different amount of food, at different lengths of time, and the scientists scanned the containers between 16-32 times, and recorded their behaviour during that time.

Dr Jen Perry explained: "We found that hungry male fruit flies display more hostility toward each other.

"They're more likely to aggressively lunge at each other and to swat at each other with their legs ('fencing' behaviour) and they spend more time defending food patches."

Dr Danielle Edmunds, who conducted the experiments said being hangry might be a survival strategy, but that it would require more studying.

They also discovered that timing was an important factor. For example, flies who experienced less food earlier in life, were generally less aggressive when they got older.

The researchers said that no flies were hurt during the experiment. But they did get really hangry.