Uncomplicated Scientist Posted July 2, 2011 Posted July 2, 2011 It’s true, the loudest animal in the world (relatively speaking), as described by BBC News ‘Singing penis’ sets noise record for water insect, is a fresh water insect (Micronecta scholtzi) that plays “music” by rubbing its penis on its abdomen. This music reaches levels up to 99.7 decibels. Relating this to a sounds we may all understand, that is equivalent to a listening to a very loud orchestra or music act from the front row. It should also be noted that this tiny bug, in the grand scheme of things is not much quieter than much larger animals such as blue whales. The reason these little bugs don’t completely cause our heads to cave in, is because they live under water. The sound is dampened by the water way before they reach our ears; however, the fact that the sound is noticeable to our ears from bugs sitting at the bottom of the river is incredible. So the question is, why does this bug choose to play music with its sexual organ? Well, for the same reason most male animals play music, to attract a female. Check out the BBC article, Singing penis’ sets noise record for water insect, for some cool pictures and you can listen to an mp3 file of the insects song From Uncomplicatedscientist.com
Marat Posted July 2, 2011 Posted July 2, 2011 But of all the ways to produce noise mechanically with the body, why does the insect use just that part to attract a mate? Is there something about the volume, length, or quality of the noise that signals the female as to which partners are best?
Yoseph Posted July 5, 2011 Posted July 5, 2011 So I don't have to start a new topic, could someone explain to me something I was wondering while travelling in the east... Surely making a loud noise takes a lot of energy, how do insects have enough energy to create such loud noises for such long periods of time? They don't eat much, and they're very small...
errordactyl Posted July 8, 2011 Posted July 8, 2011 wew this one is pretty interesting, rubbing the sensitive part of your body to create loud sounds! I wish they could conduct more study and give us information about this species it may help our medical community hehehehe
CharonY Posted July 8, 2011 Posted July 8, 2011 wew this one is pretty interesting, rubbing the sensitive part of your body to create loud sounds! I wish they could conduct more study and give us information about this species it may help our medical community hehehehe Well, it is not sensitive in all or even many animals. Flatworms like to fence with it, for instance.
Marat Posted July 8, 2011 Posted July 8, 2011 Since a lot of the human version of this activity occurs in secret, if this were to produce very loud noises in social animals such as ourselves, it could be quite unfortunate -- say, for teenage boys living in religious school dormitories, for example.
ScarletKnight13 Posted August 17, 2011 Posted August 17, 2011 This "singing" is probably of better quality then a majority of music being produced today
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