Children’s Game #30: Imbu

Tabacongo, DR Congo, 2021; 4:58 min
In collaboration with Rafael Ortega, Julien Devaux, and Félix Blume

 

Though mosquitoes have almost as many sensory auditory cells as we do, their hearing is for the sole purpose of finding a mate. Individual males (more wingbeats per second, higher frequency) and females (slower, lower) adjust their flight tones until a pleasing harmony is achieved. These boys have found a pitch irresistible to one sex—hopefully females, for malaria is growing in the DRC, and only pregnant females bite. Eros and Thanatos for the mosquitoes; for the boys, a small but satisfying cull of the horrible hordes.

Lorna Scott Fox

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