Cicada Planet Earth
Saundra Balock
First thing in the morning, when the sun has barely peeked over the horizon and you want to snuggle under the covers, the loudest animals in the world (well, in your world) are probably your cat yowling and your dog begging for breakfast. We don't dispute that.
However, scientists have measured the sounds made by animals in the wild, and they, too, are very, very loud. Maybe even louder than your pets first thing in the morning, but probably not. However, we're just saying that there are animals that can create sounds so loud they could burst our human eardrums. Not even your cat can do that, though she may try.
Human hearing has two components: frequency and intensity. As far as the frequency of sound waves goes, the human hearing range falls between 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Younger humans, like infants, can hear higher sounds.
According to National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, "Sounds at or below 70 A-weighted decibels (dBA), even after long exposure, are unlikely to cause hearing loss. However, long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 dBA can cause hearing loss."
It can sound like cicadas are screaming their lungs out at absolutely everything (aren't we all?), but actually, they are vibrating the drum-like exoskeleton of their abdomen. Their tummy calls are species-specific so they don't attract females they can't mate with.
"The vocal folds of a howler monkey are three times longer than a human's, yet they are 10 times smaller," said Jacob Dunn, the lead researcher on a study about the correlation between a howler monkey's noise levels and testes.
The greater bulldog bat, which is native to the Caribbean, uses echolocation to find food, like all bats. But instead of the more typical insects, these bats feed on fish. That means bulldog bats need to emit a sound that can penetrate both air, where they fly, and water, where their food swims.
One of the loudest animals on Earth is also the largest animal on Earth. The blue whale's call can reach 188 decibels. We share the planet with blue whales and pistol shrimp, so how do we even have eardrums if these animals are so loud?
Pow pow! This little Mediterranean shrimp, also known as snapping shrimp, doesn't make sounds with its mouth, or even technically with its body. It uses its huge claw to shoot jets of water with such force that it creates an air bubble. When this bubble implodes, it generates a shockwave of more than 200 decibels.
"A sound created underwater would be about 60 decibels less in the air," he continued. "So if a sperm whale could make a sound next to you at your desk, it would reach 170 decibels. And that is still louder than almost anything on land. The bulldog bat can reach 140 decibels. Now, with all that said, we can't hear any of those noises because they are being emitted at a frequency that we cannot hear, thankfully."
I am someone who came to love insects and invertebrates later in life. For me, it all started with keeping honey bees with my best friend back in the mid1990s. Taking care of three humming hives made me curious about where all of the nectar and pollen was coming from.
I found my honey bees with their saddle bags of pollen, but more importantly, I discovered an enormous cast of tiny animals that I had never taken the time or attention to notice before. I was surprised by the variety of native bees, crab and lynx spiders, thread-waisted wasps, hover flies and robber flies, ambush bugs and assassin bugs, lady beetles, black locust beetles, aphids, thrips, praying mantises and a huge variety of other invertebrates, each living their own unique lives. My fascination quickly led to the wonderful realization that each and every one of these animals had its own story to tell and role to play in the natural world.
As I write this blog, I am watching a half-dozen different birds visit a bird feeder my neighbors keep well stocked with seeds. In a world where the insects have disappeared, so too have these birds.
Insects are also food for a wide variety of fish. Large and smallmouth bass, minnows, shad, alewife and so many more fish all eat insects, then serve as prey for musky and pike in turn. Migrating salmon need insects to fuel their trip to the sea, returning many years later to feed bears, birds and other animals.
Without insects, we would quickly have issues with grazing livestock. Dung beetles are hard-working and often unseen, yet they are vital for the rapid decomposition of cow patties that would otherwise smother the ground and hold on to nutrients that feed the range and help grow future forage. In fact, all dead things across the planet would be slow to decompose. For fungus and other microbes to quickly finish the work of decomposing dead plants, dead animals and dung, we also need carpenter and harvester ants, carrion and dung beetles, soldier flies and flesh flies to do their job of quickly taking apart the newly dead, breaking waste down into smaller parts so that all of that energy can return to the earth. This most certainly is not a glamorous job, but I for one am grateful it is being done.
Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are regarded as the loudest animals on the planet, capable of making sounds up to 230 decibels. This is louder than the sounds of jet engines, which are about 150 decibels.
Used for centuries as natural alarm clocks, the crow of a rooster (Gallus gallus domesticus) averages around 130 decibels, and a rooster in one study reached 136 decibels. These domesticated birds produce such loud sounds to announce the new day, lead their flocks of hens to forage, designate territorial boundaries, and warn others of predators.
The white bellbird (Procnias albus) takes the prize for producing the loudest wild bird call ever scientifically documented, which was 125 decibels. Their call has been described as bell-like, though it is loud enough to be painful to the human ear if heard close enough. White bellbirds can be found in the tropical and subtropical forests of northern South America, including Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Trinidad and Tobago.
One cicada species (Brevisana brevis) is likely to be the loudest insect on record, capable of producing sounds up to almost 107 decibels, measured from a distance of 50 centimeters (20 inches). Also known as the shrill thorntree cicada, this large insect is found across Africa.
Howler monkeys (genus Alouatta) are likely to be the loudest primates in the world. Their call, which is said to sound like a garbage disposal, can reach up to 90 decibels and can be heard up to 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) away through dense forest.
There are fifteen recognized howler monkey species distributed across Central and South America, with some reaching as far north as Mexico. Nine of these species are listed as near threatened, vulnerable, or endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Greetings beautiful people of planet earth! Ya boys are back at it with a heater of an episode! We were blessed to have the opportunity to chop it up with the multidisciplined homie Omega Watts. Many know of him as a producer, MC, and DJ. In addition to these talents he is also and independent art-director, graphic designer, photographer and of course avid record collector. Ohmega and Nomadik crossed paths in the early 2000's when they both lived in Portland, Oregon. Well as you'd suspect things have changed since then and we get to discuss what's going on with him and what he's up to these days. He takes us on his journey through music, graphic design,the loss of his father, marriage, fatherhood, friendship, and life! This dude is seriously oner of the most genuine human beings! We hope you are as blessed by the conversation as we were.
We're back like we never left! Hopefully y'all remember a few episodes back the we had on Jeremiah Dirt and Illustrate, well you can consider this part 2 where we chop it up with Illustrate solo and get to hear more of his story and why he does what he does. We have the convo about being a rapper who's a christian vs. a Christian rapper and if there is a difference. he shares with us insights into the Colorado hip hop scene as well as what it was like linking up with Fros'T and Ahmad of 4th Ave Jones. As many of you may (or may not) know Illustrate is a member of the hip-hop collective Shadow Of The Locust (see September 2023 episode for that convo), he shares with us how he met Jeremiah Dirt and Calmplex of SOTL. This spurs Illustrate and Jamey to both share some Jeremiah Dirt stories which are worth the listen alone! Wrapping it up Illustrate lets us know what he's up to know as far as crew and solo projects.
We hope everybody is doing just great! On this episode we had the pleasure of sitting down with Major Chisholm of Creative Liberty podcast. Major came on Jamey's radar through Whiskerino (which was a beard growing group, look it up if you don't know), and they further developed their relationship the last couple years through taking time together to explore life without alcohol.
To kick the episode off we get into the beard talk, which was a rather robust conversation on facial hair. Next we move into the beverage portion of the episode-shoutout to Rambler and Spindrift sparkling waters, as well as Athletic Brewing and Sober Carpenter brewing to help us get some flavor without the alcohol.
We got a treat for y'all on this episode. This one's been a long time comin', but without further delay we present the multitalented Sivion of the legendary Deepspace 5 crew! As you'll be able to hear, we really enjoyed this conversation!
We kicked this one off with what we were drinking, and then move into the beard care section of the episode. After we dissect the finer things of creams and combs we chop it up about parenting and career paths before discussing Siv's history in music and how dual love for the sax and the mic. He's got a few projects in the works that we're excited about, which leads us to discuss the labels he's been on how those connections were made.
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