Insects Enjoy a Drink to Relax
The little bugs crawling and flying around us can seem completely alien when examined closely. Don’t believe it? Look at them under a microscope or in macro photos—they are like creatures straight out of Alien and Predator. They even have odd habits like vomiting digestive juices onto live prey.
Yet, insects are closer to us than you might think, and nothing human is foreign to them.
For example, these creatures are familiar with the euphoric effects of alcohol and wouldn’t mind taking a drink. Not literally, of course, as they get their alcohol from fermented fruits, not glasses.
Take fruit flies (Drosophila), for instance. They are particularly attracted not to fresh fruits but to rotting ones, which contain ethanol produced from fermented sugars. Initially, when flies first taste alcohol, they find it unpleasant, just like a person who’s never had a drink. But over time, as ethanol affects the flies’ brain neurons, their preferences shift. They start to enjoy alcohol and actively seek it out.
Interestingly, fruit flies that are deprived of mating opportunities consume more ethanol, but when given a chance to mate, their craving for alcohol decreases. Apparently, not only humans drown their sorrows in wine after a breakup.
Bees also indulge: researchers have found that intoxicated bees fly, work, dance, and interact with their hive-mates less, instead spending more time sitting still and grooming themselves. In their inebriated state, they become less aggressive and less responsive to nearby dangers.
Bread Can Be Made from Crickets
It’s traditionally believed that insects are only consumed in the most exotic cuisines of China, Africa, and other distant lands. But microbiologists from the Polytechnic University of Marche in Ancona, Italy, decided not to overlook this appealing source of protein and created bread made from crickets.
The bread isn’t entirely made from insects—only about a third of it is cricket flour, with the rest being regular flour. However, the benefits of adding crickets to food are clear: they are high in protein, essential amino acids, and fatty acids that increase the bread’s calorie content. Additionally, cricket bread lasts longer and stales less quickly.
There are downsides, though: according to those who tried it, the bread tastes somewhat like cat food.
Interestingly, if the flour is made from mealworms instead of crickets, the bread acquires a pleasant nutty flavor.
Cricket flour also contains spores from various bacteria living in these insects, so it has to be produced under sterile conditions and sometimes treated with gamma radiation, but these issues can be resolved.
In the future, insects could become a significant food source for humanity because they are easier to farm than livestock and produce much more protein. All that remains is to make them taste better.
Insects Invented Gears Long Before Humans
It’s commonly thought that gears and cogwheels are exclusively human inventions. However, insects have a different story to tell.
The photo above illustrates the leg structure of a planthopper from the Issus coleoptratus family. This insect has powerful limbs that allow it to achieve speeds of 4 meters per second from a standstill, with jumps that are impressively accurate.
Such speed and precision are possible thanks to a unique knee joint that resembles a gear mechanism. Normal nerve impulses wouldn’t be fast enough to synchronize the insect’s leg movements during a jump, but gears do the job quite well.
However, only juvenile planthoppers have these special knees. Adults shed them during molting because the teeth wear down over time, making it difficult for older insects to regenerate them. So, the gears are eventually replaced with a regular joint.
Grasshoppers Hear with Their Bellies and Knees
Unlike humans and other mammals, insects don’t have ears. To perceive sounds in their environment (a vital survival skill), they’ve had to get creative.
In grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts, there are six thin membranes at the base of their legs on the abdomen, functioning like human eardrums. These membranes vibrate, picking up sound waves from the insect’s knees, allowing them to hear.
This ability is crucial for these insects.
Firstly, it helps them detect the courtship chirps of the opposite sex during mating. Secondly, it allows them to identify the approach of a predator or rival by sound.
Grasshoppers can literally gauge the size of an opponent based on the loudness of their footsteps before even seeing them. This helps them decide whether to engage in a territorial fight or to retreat if the enemy is clearly stronger.
Hawk Moths Ward Off Bats by Rubbing Their Genitals
Imagine you’re a hawk moth, flying through the night to find a mate and fulfill your natural purpose. Suddenly, a massive bat comes swooping down with suspicious intentions. What do you do?
Male hawk moths know how to handle this situation. They extend their genitals to their full length and vigorously rub them against their abdomen.
When the scales on the moth’s genitals make contact with its body, an ultrasonic noise is produced, which disrupts the echolocation of the bats.
This tactic disorients the predators and increases the moth’s chances of escaping.
Female hawk moths are also capable of repelling predators by emitting similar sounds, although they achieve this by pulling their genitals inward.
And hawk moths aren’t the only ones fighting off bats with ultrasound. Tiger moths, for instance, emit clicking sounds, reminiscent of a creaking floorboard, using special scales on their chests and wings.
