The Loudest Animal in the World, All Due to its Singing Penis?

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