It’s possible that if you’ve gone out some point during the last few days, you have heard the buzzy and raspy sound of cicada’s that is a characteristic noise of every Maltese summer.

The nearer to the countryside you are the more likely you are to hear them. But have you ever wondered what the reason behind such a noise is?

In an explanation posted by ‘Maltese Islands Weather’, such a noise is only made by the male species in order to attract a female mate.

The male cicada contracts its tymbal organ on their abdomen resulting in the sound that we constantly hear during the summer.

In fact, the frequency can range anywhere between 120 to 480 times a second, “which is fast enough to make it sound continuous to the human ear”, the weather page continued to reveal.

Cicadas only live for a summer or so as the male dies right after mating while the female dies after laying her eggs.

The eggs can lie dormant for six years before they even start hatching and the process of life and death starts again.

The buzzing sounds from these short-lived animals usually starts towards the end of July and finishes at the end of summer.

Facebook/Maltese Islands Weather