Bugging devices: the astounding ways insects are talking and listening all around us

From spiders tuning their silken listening tools, to the beetle’s heady perfume, hundreds of conversations are happening in languages we don’t understand It’s invertebrate of the year – vote for your favourite All around us, every day, hundreds of conversations are taking place in languages we don’t understand, or even, in most cases, notice. Birdsong is one you would probably recognise, and you may have heard of honeybee “waggle” dances. But what about the spider tuning their web to listen...

By Vicki Hird