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The periodic cicadas that are invading two parts of the United States aren’t just plentiful, they’re downright weird. These insects have the strongest urination ability in the animal kingdom, and can urinate in a volume that puts even humans and elephants to shame. They are also caterpillar rescuers, but they have been infected with sexually transmitted diseases and have turned into zombies, the Associated Press reported. more:
- Head pump: Cicadas primarily prefer the internal tissues of trees called xylem, which transport water and small amounts of nutrients. The insect has a pump in its oversized head that allows it to collect body fluids, said Carrie Deans, an entomologist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. They use their tiny, hair-wide proboscises like straws to pump out fluids, said Saad Bumrah, a professor of biophysics at Georgia Tech. They spend almost their entire lives drinking every year.
- Along the way: All that watery liquid has to come out the other side. And boy, can it. Professor Bumrah published his research on urinary flow rates in animals around the world in March. Cicadas are clearly king, peeing 2-3 times harder and faster than elephants or humans. Although Bumrah was unable to see the periodic cicadas, which primarily feed and urinate underground, he used video to record and measure the flow rate of their Amazonian cousins up to every second. It reached about 10 feet. Bumrah says they have muscles that push waste through tiny holes like jets.
- Zombie cicada: There’s also a fungus, a deadly sexually transmitted disease, that turns cicadas into zombies and causes them to shed their private parts, said John Cooley, an entomologist at the University of Connecticut. This is a real problem, and it’s “stranger than science fiction,” Cooley said. “This is a sexually transmitted zombie disease.” Cooley has seen areas in the Midwest where up to 10% of people were infected. Cooley said the fungus is also the type that produces hallucinogenic effects in birds that eat it. This white mushroom takes over from the male. Cooley said the gonads are torn from the body and the chalky spores are spread to other cicadas nearby. Insects are not killed, but sterilized. In this way, the fungus uses cicadas to transmit to other fungi. “They’re completely at the mercy of the fungi,” Cooley said. “They are [the] the walking dead. “
Click here to learn more about the benefits of rescuing caterpillars. (The story about cicadas continues.)
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