funfact.wiki
AboutGuidelinesTermsPrivacyContact

Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Butterflies taste with their feet. Chemoreceptors on thei... | funfact.wiki | funfact.wiki
Butterflies taste with their feet. Chemoreceptors on their leg tips (the tarsi) detect sugars and chemicals the instant they land, about 200 times more sensitively than the human tongue. Females taste a plant with their feet before laying eggs, so their caterpillars can eat it.
  • Butterfly
  • Insect
0
DiscussionHistory

Related Cards

A male cicada's abdomen is almost hollow. Instead of organs, it holds a resonating chamber and a tymbal — a stiff membrane buckled by muscle to make sound. The hollow belly amplifies it. The loud African cicada *Brevisana brevis* can reach 106 decibels.
  • Cicada
  • Insect
  • Animal
  • Biology
  • Sound
0
When bees are repeatedly exposed to explosive scents followed by sugar water, they eventually extend their tongues at the smell alone. A real device was built with 36 trained bees in sensor cartridges as an explosive detector. Training a dog takes months, but bees need only a few hours.
  • Bee
  • Insect
  • Technology
0
Nymphs of the planthopper have actual gear-like teeth on their hind legs. When jumping with 400G in 2 milliseconds, the gears synchronize both legs within 30 microseconds. Adults lose the gears—damaged ones can't be replaced—and switch to friction instead.
  • Insect
  • Gear
  • Evolution
  • Planthopper
0
When threatened, the bombardier beetle fires hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone from a reservoir into a reaction chamber, where enzymes trigger an explosive reaction that heats the liquid to nearly 100°C. It blasts this scalding, pressurized spray at predators in precise aimed pulses.
  • Bombardier beetle
  • Hydrogen peroxide
  • Insect
  • Chemistry
0
The Dragonfly is a specialized aerial hunter. In one experiment, Libellula cyanea caught up to 95% of fruit flies it pursued. Its trick is prediction: its visual system and brain estimate the prey's future path, while four independent wings steer it to the intercept point.
  • Dragonfly
  • Insect
  • Brain
  • Animal
  • Biology
0