Every midsummer, much of Japan is treated to the sights and piercing sounds of cicadas.

These large insects, which are about three inches long, look like little pieces of poo and fly around with all the grace of a fork thrown by a 2-year-old, bumping into walls, buildings, and occasionally my head. Still, they’re loved by kids because they’re kind of stupid and really easy to catch.

Another feature of summer in Japan is that kids are given the task of doing an independent study project for their vacation, and this is where our story begins: Eight-year-old Jun Kitayama of Kameoka, Kyoto decided to mix his study with pleasure through his hobby of collecting discarded cicada husks.

He did the same project last year, but is continuing his research in order to compare the results and what he found was beyond anyone’s expectations. It wasn’t just the fact that the third grader managed to gather about 5,000 husks, but he found some disturbing trends overlooked by grown-up experts.

First, in both years the majority of cicadas found in Kyoto City were of the species kumazemi (Cryptotympana facialis). However, this year there were significantly fewer aburazemi (Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata) husks found. Kitayama’s assistant, 62-year-old Joji Nakada of the Kameoka City Global Environment Children’s Village, confirms this is indicative of a yearly decline in the aburazemi population.

More unsettling is that this year, 207 of the 1,370 kumazemi molted shells still had the dead bodies of cicadas inside. Amounting to 15 percent of the insect’s numbers, this suggests an environmental factor was contributing to their demise.

Kitayama postulates that it was the recent heatwave that may have caused the deaths, but being the professional he is, he realizes that more research is needed for more conclusive results.