Section C
The primary purpose of the male cicada’s song is to attract a female with which to breed.
Cicadas tend to be very well camouflaged, and can blend into their surrounding tree-based
environments easily. The song of the cicada provides the clues through which the female
cicada can find the nearest male. However, the cicada also appears to use its song for
defensive purposes in a unique way. Whereas most insects and animals aim to scare off
potential dangers by increasing the volume of their warning sounds (e.g. the rattlesnake),
cicadas, when threatened, actually diminish the noise that they make. The reason for this is
that cicadas are hardly ever alone in a given area, and thus it is difficult for a hunter to pick
out the song of an individual insect while distracted by its neighbors. Should a predator be
detected, nearby cicadas become very quiet to decrease the odds that they will be singled
out among the roar of their more distant kin.
Section D
Scientists who study the cicada raise interesting observations about the evolutionary
development of the cicada song and the cicada’s short breeding period. Cicadas live
underground for most of their lives and only rise to the surface for several days or weeks at
most to find a mate and then die. The reason for this lies in the sedentary nature of the
cicada, which makes the insect an easy target for birds and other predators, which consume
the insects in great numbers. However, by emerging in the millions
all at once, cicadas
increase their chance of survival as a species into the next generation, as predators simply
cannot significantly impact the numbers of their prey in such a brief period. Meanwhile, the
power of the cicada song has proven to be an effective tool for collective breeding, as each
insect must locate a mate quickly while outlasting potential predators.
Section E
Cicadas garner the attention, adoration, and sometimes scorn of the general public for the
distinctive sound that they create and their occasionally suffocating abundance. In temperate
environments all over the world, the ubiquitous buzz of the cicada’s song dominates the
backdrop. One must be careful not to come too close to the most powerful of cicadas, whose
sound, if heard from just outside the human ear, is known to cause long-term or irreversible
physical damage. The cicada’s unique tymbal structure, hollow abdomen, and stamina allow
it to generate noise for up to 24-hour cycles, leading to the love/hate relationship people
may have with the insect. The cicada plays to its evolutionary strength, with the power and
majesty of its song as the key to its survival.
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