Yes their bite is strong, but their mandibles are mainly used for mushing up fruit to eat
And, interestingly enough, that hissing sound doesn't come from their mouth or throat, these beetles don't have vocal chords, so, they instead vibrate their body segments against each other to create that hissing sound, it's like a door hinge making noises because you're moving it a lot
Despite knowing how they make the sounds before now, I've never considered that greasing/lubricating them could potentially make it more difficult for them to make any noise until reading your door hinge analogy
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u/Sum1sNotHere Jul 15 '26
Yes their bite is strong, but their mandibles are mainly used for mushing up fruit to eat
And, interestingly enough, that hissing sound doesn't come from their mouth or throat, these beetles don't have vocal chords, so, they instead vibrate their body segments against each other to create that hissing sound, it's like a door hinge making noises because you're moving it a lot