Insect

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.

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.

Leaf-cutter ants farmed long before humans. They do not eat the leaves they cut; they use them as compost for fungi, then eat the crop. The ants even carry antibiotic-producing bacteria that help protect their fungal gardens from disease.

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.

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.

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.