Washington braces for frenzy of mating and death (NOT about the Kennedys)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | May 13, 2004 | Alec Russell

[dead]

As if George Bush did not have enough on his plate, Brood X has started to take over his capital.

With a mixture of fear and fascination, Washingtonians prepared for an infestation of biblical proportions as the first of a swarm of billions of cicadas emerged after 17 years underground.

Red-eyed, black skinned and up to five centimetres long, the first cicadas this week wriggled out of holes in the ground where they have been waiting since the height of Ronald Reagan's presidency.

Within days, large parts of the city and areas across the eastern United States will be blanketed in cicadas. Scientists predict that for the next six weeks the noise will be staggering as billions of males rub their legs with the vigour of 17 years' anticipation in search of the perfect mate.

Schoolchildren have been given instructions on how to cope and told not to panic. Weddings, soccer matches and many public events will be rescheduled or moved indoors.

In the middle of next month the females will lay eggs in trees. The adults will all die. Their offspring will drop down to the ground and burrow under the soil, for their own 17-year vigil.

"It's the grandest natural phenomenon of the century," said Gary Hevel, an entomologist at the Smithsonian Institution. "This is the largest brood of periodical cicadas. It is the big one, a matter of billions and trillions.

"People tend to be annoyed and fearful about the lack of knowledge. We are trying to get the word out that they are not dangerous. They crawl out of the ground, they mate, they lay eggs and then they die."

There are many species of periodical cicadas, but Brood X - or Brood Ten - is by far the largest and most numerous, and its visitations are rites of passage for veteran Washingtonians. The trigger for their emergence is when the earth temperature reaches 18 degrees, which happened some time on Monday.

"Brood X is likely to be the largest insect emergence on Earth," said Keith Clay, a cicada expert at Indiana University at Bloomington.

He says cicadas can reach densities of up to 3000 kilograms a hectare. Cicadas are notable not only for their vast numbers, but also the noise they make.

On Tuesday, residents roamed the leafier parts of Washington spotting the husks of the early risers who had already taken to the trees fully formed with amber wings after shedding their skins, and the corpses of those that had failed their one and only test.

"I was in school and the noise was incredible," recalled Barbara Beelar, 62, who was born and raised in Washington. "You couldn't sleep at night. Everyone was sleep-deprived. It's a wonderful example of nature grabbing your attention.

"They crawl out. Their great hope is to meet someone from the other sex and then they die. If you look at those things you can see where a whole genre of horror stories came from."

When colonists first witnessed the phenomenon they thought it was a sign from God, akin to the 10 plagues in Egypt. But in recent decades reactions have been more relaxed and the cicadas more welcome.

Jacques Tiziou, a French-American, was in his kitchen, freezing his first cicadas. He said: "They are pure protein. No fat. There are plenty of countries where the only food is some form of insect."

The Telegraph, London; Reuters

[TheBigB]

It's the grandest natural phenomenon of the century,"

All 3 1/2 years of it.

[Riley]

Oh great. A bug invasion. Just what we need here.

[17th Miss Regt]

Lobbyists? Or just plain old Democrats...

[2banana]

We get cicadas every year. What is a few billion more?

[Uncle Miltie]

Jacques Tiziou, a French-American, was in his kitchen, freezing his first cicadas. He said: "They are pure protein. No fat. There are plenty of countries where the only food is some form of insect."

Bug Eating Surrender Monkey?

[EggsAckley]

Aarrrggh. I was doing okay until the last sentence, about the Frog freezing the bugs for later consumption.

Bleah!!

[Hodar]

Schoolchildren have been given instructions on how to cope and told not to panic.

How about we put children who panic (due to a bug's mating call) to sleep. We can send a letter to his parents:

Dear Parent;
Your child went into a panic, upon hearing the sound of a cicada; and we had him put to sleep for the good of mankind. I'm sure you understand.

[kevkrom]

We get cicadas every year. What is a few billion more?

I've never been through this myself, but the locals here in the DC area (Brood X "ground-zro") have been telling me that this is nothing like the cicadas you seem every other year. "A plague of Biblical proportions" is the most common description I hear...

[theDentist]

"...billions of males rub their legs with the vigour of 17 years' anticipation in search of the perfect mate. "

Another Wednesday night at the Cantina...

[macamadamia]

"Jacques Tiziou, a French-American, was in his kitchen, freezing his first cicadas. He said: "They are pure protein. No fat. There are plenty of countries where the only food is some form of insect."

Dumbass!

[dead]

LOL!

But aren't you just a little "annoyed and fearful about the lack of knowledge?"

Everything's terrifying everywhere.

[livius]

"...Frenzy of Mating and Death (NOT about the Kennedys)"

LOL! First good laugh I've had for the last several days on FR.

[Armed Civilian]

Come on you know the rule These things like the desert send them to Afghanistan to get OBL out of the mountains.

[vandykelastone]

How do you think the french got that way in teh first place? Sure, some of their sexual preferences helped, but living on bug and slugs and guts didn't help matters any. Still doesn't.

[TBall]

Cicada Cuisine
Cicadas are a delicacy in the city of Shanghai, China, where this creative recipe originated.

Ingredients
Cicadas, anises, salt, rice wine, mashed garlic, celery, turnip greens.

Recipe
1. Boil the cicadas and anises in salted rice wine for five minutes, then remove the cicadas.
2. Sauté the mashed garlic, adding water and rice wine to make a paste.
3. Deep-fry the cicadas, then skewer them with bamboo picks. Arrange them on a plate with the turnip greens, celery, and garlic paste to look like the cicadas are climbing out of a mud pie onto green foliage. Bon appetit!

[HEY4QDEMS]

Periodical Cicada

[Hodar]

But aren't you just a little "annoyed and fearful about the lack of knowledge?"

Yes, the state of 'Ed-ukay-shun' of our schools is appalling. We are graduating students who neither deserve a diploma, nor can fashion a single sentence. Thus, the diploma means nothing.

However, my dog has never attended a single day of school. His spelling is even worse than his grammer .... yet he doesn't panic when a cicada sings... but he does bark at the sprinklers every single night.

[End Times Sentinel]

Jacques Tiziou, a French-American, was in his kitchen, freezing his first cicadas. He said: "They are pure protein. No fat. There are plenty of countries where the only food is some form of insect."

What a sick freak!!!  Freezing them?  Anyone worth their salt knows only FRESH Cicadas are worth eating.

 

PA Counties where fresh cicadas can be found.

 

OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!!!  I can taste those suculent little creepy crawlers now!

 

Personally, I like them sauted with a little garlic in clarified butter and then finished off with a squirt of fresh lemon juice and parsley served over a thick pasta.  Also on the "Good Eats" list is shocking them in ice water, dipping them in warm chocolate sauce and then allowing them to assume room temperature. 

 

I was thinking maybe this year of getting a jar full and roasting them in a dutch oven with summer squash, baby carrots, fennel and cauliflour.  Or possibly making cicada ka-bobs.  Anyone know the proper aproximate grilling time for a cicada?  I probably will put them on their own skewer until I determine how they hold up over a direct flame.

 

Of course, there's no greater pleasure than whiling away a summer afternoon with a glass of fresh squeezed lime ade eating mating cicadas right off the leaves.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[William Terrell]

All these trillions of insects will have to eat something. What do they eat?