How do insects chat?

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Author: Chongyan Chongyu Team

Producer: China Science Expo

There is a line in the song "Drawing in the Sand": "I'm talking seriously to the cicada, because I care about you." The tiny insects that appear outside our windows every summer have difficulty understanding human language, but they also have their own language.

In a broad sense, if we regard the "dialogue" (information communication) between different individuals of the same insect species, between different insect species, and even between insects and the environment including other animals and plants as "language", then the "language system" of insects can be considered rich and colorful and quite interesting!

Butterflies on the windowsill are like beautiful chapters flying in a poem - Visual Language

Although the images that butterflies can see are blurry, they have a very strong ability to distinguish colors. Some people believe that when butterflies fly among flowers and choose flowers, they do not choose based on the appearance of the flowers, but based on the color of the flowers; when male butterflies look for a "mate", they first use their eyes to distinguish whether the markings on the other's wings belong to the "same family". Others have found that flies need the coordinated stimulation of the color, shape and chemical smell of the host plant when laying eggs.

Butterfly

(Photo source: Veer Gallery)

The dance language of insects plays a major role in conveying information, and this role is particularly prominent in bees.

In the social life of bees, worker bees are responsible for the heavy tasks of nest building, pollen collection, honey making, and raising young. Before a large number of worker bees leave the nest to collect honey, they first send out "scout bees" to find the source of honey. When the scout bees find the source of honey within 100 meters of the beehive, they return to the nest to report the news. In addition to leaving tracking information, they also turn small circles alternately to the left or right on the hive, crawling in a "round dance" manner.

Bees at work

(Photo source: Veer Gallery)

People may ask, how do other bees understand the various dance moves performed by worker bees in the dark beehive? It turns out that they obtain information by converting the "dance language" into "contact language" when they touch the worker bee's body with the trembling antennae on their heads.

This method of transmission sometimes fails, so they have to use the continuous vibration of their wings to emit "buzzing" sounds of different frequencies to supplement the deficiencies of the "dance language" and enhance the expressiveness of the tone.

Bees in the hive

(Photo source: Veer Gallery)

The sound of cicadas coming from the playground during nap time is still very pleasant to hear after so many years - Voice Communication

Transmitting information through sound is a form of "language" for insects. Although insects cannot make sounds with their mouths, they can make full use of various sound-making organs on their bodies to make up for this deficiency. Although insects do not have ears, they have extremely sensitive hearing organs (such as auditory hairs, Jiang's auditory organs, tympanic auditory organs, etc.). The special pronunciation organs of insects work closely with their auditory organs to form a sound communication system that transmits various "codes" between species.

cicada

(Photo source: Veer Gallery)

The Chinese working people have long known about the vocalization mechanism and parts of different insects. The ancient Chinese book "Cao Mu Shu" says: "Locusts are green in color, with long horns and legs, and they make sounds with their legs." "Bi Ya" says: "The sound of flies is majestic, and the sound of blue flies is clear and melodious, and the sound is all in the wings." The "sounds" of different insects have been clearly divided into friction sounds and vibration sounds.

grasshopper

(Photo source: Veer Gallery)

Don't cry, let the fireflies take you away - light signal language

Tiny insects can cleverly use flashes (light language) to communicate, and fireflies are the representative of this communication method. In the summer evening, in the grass and bushes of mountain streams, you can often see small lights hanging in the air, as if competing with the stars. If you use a small net to cover the "small lights", you will see that it is a small beetle with a hard shell. Because the end of its abdomen can emit a little fluorescence, people have given it a vivid name - firefly.

firefly

(Photo source: Veer Gallery)

In addition to fireflies, there are many other insects that fly among flowers only after sunset and nightfall, collecting nectar and pollinating plants. They can find flowers smoothly in the dark night, which is also the result of the "flashing language".

When nocturnal insects fly in the sky, the vibration of their wings causes constant friction with the air, generating heat energy and emitting ultraviolet light to "ask for directions" from flowers. The flowers, irradiated by ultraviolet light, provoke a dim "night light" echo, sending out a warm invitation; the special structure on the insects receives the echo of the "night light" of the flowers, and they will fly back to pollinate the flowers. In this way, the light language of insects has also contributed to the prosperity of nature.

Most nocturnal insects are attracted to light, and "moths flying into a flame" is a true portrayal of this habit.

(Photo source: Veer Gallery)

Conclusion

Insects have a variety of "languages" and express themselves in a variety of ways. Unfortunately, humans know very little about this "language" so far, with some aspects only just being explored and others remaining unexplored.

Despite this, we can still believe that with the continuous improvement of human understanding and the further improvement of research technology, humans will surely uncover the mystery of insect "language" more and more deeply, and use this knowledge to actively and effectively understand insect behavior.

Editor: Guo Yaxin