The loudest animal in the world has been revealed as a tiny insect that swims in water.
Scientists have found that the water boatman Micronecta scholtzi produces more noise than any other animal relative to its body size.
The creatures, which are around three quarters of an inch in size and swim upside down using two long legs like oar paddles, produce 99.2 decibels of noise ââ¬â the equivalent of listening to an orchestra play loudly from the front row.
Dr James Windmill, from the University of Strathclyde, said the sound was within the human hearing range.
He said: Remarkably, even though 99% of sound is lost when transferring from water to air, 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.
The song, used by males to attract mates, is produced by rubbing its penis against its abdomen, in a process called stridulation.
In water boatmen the area used for stridulation is roughly the width of a human hair.
We really don't know how they make such a loud sound using such a small area, says Dr. Windmill.
The researchers, who presenting their work at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Glasgow on Saturday the 2nd of July, are now hoping to discover how the insects make such a loud noise.
Dr. Windmill explains: Biologically this work could be helpful in conservation as recordings of insect sounds could be used to monitor biodiversity. From the engineering side it could be used to inform our work in acoustics, such as in sonar systems.
The noisiest creature in absolute terms is the blue whale, which has a song that can reach 188 decibels.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/8612684/Water-boatman-is-the-worlds-loudest-animal.html
Scientists have found that the water boatman Micronecta scholtzi produces more noise than any other animal relative to its body size.
The creatures, which are around three quarters of an inch in size and swim upside down using two long legs like oar paddles, produce 99.2 decibels of noise ââ¬â the equivalent of listening to an orchestra play loudly from the front row.
Dr James Windmill, from the University of Strathclyde, said the sound was within the human hearing range.
He said: Remarkably, even though 99% of sound is lost when transferring from water to air, 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.
The song, used by males to attract mates, is produced by rubbing its penis against its abdomen, in a process called stridulation.
In water boatmen the area used for stridulation is roughly the width of a human hair.
We really don't know how they make such a loud sound using such a small area, says Dr. Windmill.
The researchers, who presenting their work at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Glasgow on Saturday the 2nd of July, are now hoping to discover how the insects make such a loud noise.
Dr. Windmill explains: Biologically this work could be helpful in conservation as recordings of insect sounds could be used to monitor biodiversity. From the engineering side it could be used to inform our work in acoustics, such as in sonar systems.
The noisiest creature in absolute terms is the blue whale, which has a song that can reach 188 decibels.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/8612684/Water-boatman-is-the-worlds-loudest-animal.html
