Quarks to Quasars

These Millipedes Can’t Hear, So Why Do They Sing?

Why would a young male sing when his species has no ears? To get the girl, of course.

That’s the most likely explanation for noises made by Sphaerotherium, a little-known genus of giant pill millipedes found in South Africa.

Exactly why sound should be so important to creatures incapable of hearing is a puzzle, though one not often considered even by entomologists. The last scientist to wonder died tragically almost 40 years ago, before he could answer the question.

“There are very few people working with millipedes in the world,” said Thomas Wesener of German’s Alexander Koenig Research Museum, co-author of a November Naturwissenschaften study of the unexpectedly loud creatures. “There’s probably 100. And for whatever reason, nobody picks these guys.”

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   “Females probably recognize the vibrations of the male,” said Wesener. Indeed, millipedes have fine hair-like structures...

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    Nobody works with them because they are the sickest thing EVER. And they piss and shit all over you when you handle...

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