buzz buzz

General General · 30-06-2011 1:21am #1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13958630

<amusing comment>

Kojak · 30-06-2011 1:24am

This should be posted in the annoying noises thread.

deathrider · 30-06-2011 1:25am

General General wrote: »

<amusing comment>

Where?

General General · 30-06-2011 1:26am

Kojak wrote: »

This should be posted in the annoying noises thread.

Who loves ya, baby?

OutlawPete · 30-06-2011 1:26am

Article from link in the OP for those using new fangled cellular type gadgets:

Water insect makes record noise with penis

A tiny water boatman is the loudest animal on Earth relative to its body size, a study has revealed. Scientists recorded the aquatic animal "singing" at up to 99.2 decibels, the equivalent of listening to a loud orchestra play while sitting in the front row.
The insect makes the sound by rubbing its penis against its abdomen in a process known as "stridulation".
Researchers say the song is a courtship display performed to attract a mate.
Micronecta scholtzi are freshwater insects measuring just 2mm that are common across Europe.

In a study published in the journal PLoS One, scientists from France and Scotland discovered that the small animals make a mighty sound.
The team of biologists and engineering experts recorded the insects using specialist underwater microphones.
On average, the songs of M. scholtzi reached 78.9 decibels, comparable to a passing freight train.
"We were very surprised. We first thought that the sound was coming from larger aquatic species such as a Sigara species [of] lesser water boatmen," said engineering expert Dr James Windmill from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.
"When we identified without any doubt the sound source, we spent a lot of time making absolutely sure that our recordings of the sounds were calibrated correctly."

Stridulation is the act of rubbing two body parts together to produce a sound

Resonating sounds are made when a ridge is rubbed across a finely ridged surface

It is most commonly associated with grasshoppers and crickets but some beetles, bugs and even spiders are known to chirp, chirrup and hiss in this way

Only one species of mammal, the streaked tenrec, is known to stridulate by rubbing its quills together

Dr Windmill explained that the reason the insects don't deafen us is down to the bug's underwater lifestyle.
99% of the sound is lost when transferring from water to air but despite this, the songs were still loud enough to be audible to the human ear.
"The song is so loud that a person walking along the bank can actually hear these tiny creatures singing from the bottom of the river," said Dr Windmill.
The majority of the loudest animals on Earth are also the biggest, with blue whale songs reaching 188 dB and elephant's rumbling calls measuring 117 dB.
Although remarkable acoustic signals are made by a range of invertebrates, including the miniature cricket and preying mantis, and by large mammals, none compare to M. scholtzi once body size is taken into account.
"If you scale the sound level they produce against their body size, Micronecta scholtzi are the loudest animals on Earth," said Dr Windmill.
Researchers believe that sexual selection could be the reason why the insects' songs reach such high amplitude.

"We assume that this could be the result of a runaway selection," biologist and co-author Dr Jerome Sueur from the Museum of Natural History, Paris, told the BBC.
"Males try to compete to have access to females and then try to produce a song as loud as possible potentially scrambling the song of competitors."
Dr Sueur explained that the competition could have exaggerated the volume of males' songs over time.
In many insects, the song volume is limited because predators would hear them, but observations suggest that M. scholtzi lack auditory predators.