27 Jan 1989 - mole crickets

Back at the A Rocha centre we are intrigued by a loud trilling sound that fills the air. Jim tracks it down to a small area of soil in the vineyard, but there is so sign of life there. Peter explains that the sound comes from a mole cricket which has built itself a resonating cham­ber, a horn‑shaped underground megaphone, in which it sings. The noise was so loud it was painful to listen to close up. In fact, one species of mole cricket produces a sound which reaches 92 decibels one metre above the chamber, and it can be heard, on a still day, up to 600 metres away!