This 'twerking' cicada sounds like a revved-up motorcycle

Explore More

It’s a motorcicada.

The US’ 17-year cicadas might have kicked the bucket last month, but that doesn’t mean people are safe from these insects’ deafening melody. A viral video from Japan shows a cicada emitting an ear-splitting siren song that’s a dead ringer for a motorcycle.

The cacophonous clip was recorded by Arina Chaynikova, 32, a translator from Russia, who happened upon the motorbike-mimicking critter while in downtown Tokyo, according to Caters News Agency. The inquisitive gal recounted hearing a peculiar noise, which she traced to an annual cicada — a species that comes out every year unlike its periodical counterpart in the US — perched on the bark of a tree.

The resultant footage shows the large, winged green critter “twerking” its posterior to make a mating call that evokes a motor scooter getting revved up — which is fitting as both cicada and motorcycle sounds can reach over 90 decibels. Male cicadas generate this din by repeatedly flexing percussive organs in their abdomens, which are largely hollow like a bongo drum, BBC reported. The louder the sound the more likely the cicada is to land a mate.

And motorcycles aren’t the only things these noisy insects can imitate. Others emit calls that sound like everything from buzzsaws to sirens to a diminutive Michael Winslow from “Police Academy.”

This past spring, one Georgia county had to implore residents to stop calling 911 over the cicada calls, which they had mistaken for car alarms.

ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3J7j3Fma2hfqbWqv4ytrp6qm567qHnCopqanJFiwLDBzZ2qZqSZoLJurYyrnK%2BulZl6tryMpqatp6KYxqS4xGg%3D