Needlnose

Captain's Log of Serge Stone, commander of the exploration starjumper "Cognition-5"; expedition to the planet Kepler-213b (Zarafon); entry № 29500724:

"Well, I’ve been ignoring this problem for quite a while, but the recent incident might cost us our harvest this season. For context: last night, the sealed walls of the greenhouse containing Earth crops were damaged, which could have disrupted the fragile internal microclimate and ruined the crops. Fortunately, the breach was swiftly sealed by our team. The cause of the incident: local flying lifeforms cataloged as Needlnose or Needle Noses. However, our group refers to them as 'Blind Dragonfriks,' and quite justifiably! The thing is, these creatures have been harassing our expedition for months, both day and night. Just imagine a creature resembling a hybrid of a mosquito and a lobster, with six wings and four pairs of legs, longer than a palm, capable of reaching speeds up to 30 miles per hour in flight, with a long, thin nose made of hard polychitin, and flying in swarms of over 10,000 individuals - and you can fully grasp our plight. According to Svyatoslav’s (xenobiologist) report, these creatures occupy the niche of small and medium predators in coastal regions. Since no chordates have been found on this planet, the role of seabirds here is taken by invertebrates like these beasts. They feed on aquatic life that swims into the lagoon, small fliers, terrestrial invertebrates, and some are omnivores… it doesn’t matter. By the way, they don’t drink blood, and they don’t have venomous glands, which is already good. More than 300 different species with various characteristics have been cataloged within tropical latitudes alone, but the most troubling are the representatives of just one - Giant Needle Noses. They can exceed 11 inches in length and weigh up to 2.2 funt. And now they’ve taken to flying into the glass of our greenhouses and breaking them with their sharp noses. That’s the crux of the problem. This has been happening for several weeks, but last night’s damage was close to critical. Measures need to be taken urgently.

There are three hypotheses explaining such behavior in the pests. The first: they are attracted by the greenhouse's night lighting - classic pink lamps. Flying towards the light, they don’t see the glass and crash into it. The second version - they are drawn by the smell of the sealant used for the glass. According to Svyatoslav, it resembles the pheromones that females release in flight to attract males for mating. The smell, of course, is unpleasant, but to me, it doesn’t quite resemble the sealant’s odor. The third option - these pests see their reflection in the glass, think it’s another male, and engage in combat, as is their custom - rushing at it with their needle-noses… Again, it’s doubtful that they can see their reflection in the glass at night when all incidents occur. Svyatoslav asks for a few days to observe to confirm one of the hypotheses. The rest demand results immediately.

What are our options for dealing with the pests? We can replace the greenhouse glass with armored glass - but we don’t have the equipment to manufacture such glass right here. We can install ultrasonic emitters - according to Svyatoslav, Needle Noses are sensitive to sounds in the 30,000-70,000 kHz range. However, Gala (botanist) is concerned that such frequencies could damage the glass and negatively affect crop growth. We can move the greenhouse inland - but then it would be harder to supply it with water. Finally, we could turn off the lights at night, but this would slow crop growth, and we don’t know for sure if light is involved. The correct decision must be made as soon as possible, or these beasts will simply drive us off this shore. I can only hope that Svyatoslav, with the computational power of Alice, will find a way to keep the pests away from our structures. We await the results."