Cicadas are known to hatch in billions. These groups are very noisy, so fiber optic cables can pick up noise. However, this year, how to pee has also become a hot topic. Rather than urinating in tiny droplets spraying from their butts like other insects and small creatures, cicadas urinate in high-velocity jets, much like larger mammals. Regarding this unique urinary habit, The study was published March 11 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Insects make a lot of noise, but cicadas are not easy to spot among the trees. During a research trip in Peru, a team of scientists had the good fortune to discover several cicadas urinating on trees. From this encounter, the research team was able to disprove his two main beliefs about insect urination.
droplets and jets
Common insects are eat xylem sap from trees It takes less energy to expel the sap, so the pee becomes more splatter-like. However, cicadas eat large amounts of tree sap, making it too taxing to brush off each drop individually. Using this much energy to spray pee means they need to eat even more sap.
“By urinating on a jet plane, cicadas can produce large amounts of liquid waste,” says study co-author and bioengineer/biophysicist. Elio Charita To tell pop science. “This is very important because these insects have to ingest significant amounts of xylem sap every day, so they also have to excrete large amounts of it,” said Challita, who collaborated on the study. The work is completed. Georgia Institute of Technology Bumrah Laboratory He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.
[Related: Watch these tiny bugs catapult urine with their butts.]
save energy
Small animals are also expected to urinate in this manner. That’s because the orifices in those animals are thought to be too small to eject anything thicker than a droplet.The cicada is About large size for insects and, Wingspan similar to that of some hummingbirds. For cicadas, urinating in a jet appears to use less energy than throwing pee droplets around. Scientists have previously thought that if small animals like insects wanted to squirt liquid, it would be difficult for them because pushing the liquid at high speeds would require energy and their bodies would not be large enough. Ta. Large animals can use gravity and inertia to help them urinate while conserving energy. The researchers believe that energy savings and the cicada’s large size allow it to pee like larger animals.
“The biggest surprise was to discover that cicadas are able to pee in jet planes, even though they are small insects with limited energy due to their nutrient-poor diets,” Charita said. “This goes against conventional wisdom about small animals, especially those less than 1 kg. [2.2. pounds], you can’t pee on a jet plane. ”
“Expect to pee a lot.”
Studying how cicadas urinate provides new understanding of all areas of fluid mechanics. From insects to large mammals such as elephants. According to Challita and her team, studying all the different ways animals excrete fluids could have applications in other areas, including: Soft robotics, additive manufacturing, drug delivery systems. Cicadas are currently the smallest animals known to produce high-velocity jets, so they could teach us how to produce them with small robots or nozzles.
starts in April Two flocks of cicadas emerge at the same time, one in the Midwest and one in the southern United States.there is Small overlapping areas in Illinois And these descendants appear together only once every 221 years. It is currently unclear how their urination will affect the ecosystem ahead of their double emergence. But it could be big.
“Billions of cicadas will emerge this year, so expect lots of pee! More importantly, we don’t understand the ecological impact on the surrounding flora and fauna,” Charita said. say.
[Related: Scientists finally discover the enzyme that makes pee yellow.]
This study also highlights why it is important to study the more mundane and mundane aspects of animal biology.
“Investigating these processes can reveal interesting adaptations and provide insight into how animals interact with their environments,” Charita says. “It also reminds us that there is still much to discover in nature, even in the most unexpected places, like cicada pee.”