A cicada in time-lapse

Brooklands Zoo Visit

Wow, what a great day the Junior Syndicate had at Brooklands Zoo and Pukekura Park.

Here are some more interesting facts about cicadas:

• Only male cicadas sing. They do this in an attempt to find a mate.
• Different species have different songs to attract only their own kind.
• Adult cicadas have short lives, usually only a few weeks.
• Most of their lives are spent as nymphs underground. For some species this can be up to several years.
• Cicadas feed only on plant sap using their piercing, sucking mouthparts.
• Cicadas feed on a huge range of plants, including eucalypts and grasses.
• Birds, bats, spiders, wasps, ants, mantids and tree crickets all prey on cicadas.

Can you answer this question:

What is the loudest insect in the world?

Post your answer as a comment.

Cicadas

Thanks for your great comments. Cicadas are very interesting. The male and female do make different noises. Only the male 'sings' by vibrating two drum like structures in his abdomen (called tymbals).  The females make a clicking sound to attract the males. We are having a great time learning lots of exciting facts. We have also learnt about their life cycle and what they eat.  We were fascinated to learn that cicadas have 5 eyes - 2 large compound eyes which they can see with and 3 small eyes which scientists think only detect light.