Posted on 05/20/2007 9:59:37 PM PDT by hole_n_one
The Associated Press
It sounds like a bad horror movie. But it’s actually the name of the billions of cicadas expected to emerge this month in parts of the Midwest after spending 17 years underground.
The red-eyed, shrimp-sized, flying insects don’t bite or sting. But they are known for mating calls that produce a din that can overpower ringing telephones, lawn mowers and power tools.
Brood XIII is expected across northern Illinois and in parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Cicadas live only about 30 days as adults, and their main goal is mating.
They don’t harm humans, although they are clumsy and might fly into people. Birds, squirrels and pets, especially dogs, love to eat them, and they are high in protein.
“They’re going to have quite a meal. It’s going to be like Thanksgiving for them,” said Tom Tiddens, supervisor for plant health care at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
They are periodical cicadas, which are only found in the eastern half of North America. The annual, or dog-day cicadas, that appear every summer are common around the world.
The last massive emergence of periodical cicadas was in 2004, when Brood X emerged after 17 years underground in parts of 15 Eastern states. Some broods emerge after 13 years.
A single male’s shrill courtship call can reach 90 decibels, which is equivalent to a kitchen blender.
At the Chicago Botanic Garden, spokeswoman Gloria Ciaccio joked that her advice for brides holding outdoor weddings will be to put the tent flaps down and turn the music up.
The last time we had the 13 year ones, it was horrible. We were on a camping trip when they began to emerge. Nasty critters! We had to go to Nashville and they were hitting the windsheild by the thousands. It was like driving in a hailstorm. Yuk!
1974. 1991. Heads up, Ft. Knox. Your turn again next year.
Sex every seventeen years.
Story of my life :)
Interesting. It would make more sense if he had an allergy to nuts - first, because they spend those 17 years underground sucking on tree roots, and second, because they taste like almonds.
I'm with you - I hate gypsy moths. In 1980, I lived in Weston, CT where we had an infestation of the things that just defied belief. 60 Minutes did a story on them with their cameras in my front yard. Trees were completely stripped of leaves, the constant patter of caterpillar "pellets" hitting the deck...plus it was like living in a spider web. Nastiest natural phenomenon I've ever seen.
I remember the last emergence of the 13 AND 17 year broods in Missouri. At least that's what the news told us.
It was deafening. You could be driving down Highway 13, with the windows up, the stereo blaring, and still hear them from the trees on the sides of the highway.
Dylan’s Day of the Locusts, written at the time he received an honorary degree in music from Princeton, is titled based upon the 17-year cicadas that had emerged that year (1970).
At that same time, I was a little boy swimming in a wading pool at my grand parents’ house on the outskirts of Princeton and remember asking my grand father what that noise was. I remember him explaining the cicadas to me and pointing out how bare the trees were.
The 17 year cycle is to avoid predators and the mating cycle of other circadas.
Predators might time their life cycles to match the cicados. 17 years, being a prime number, means that predators can’t match or even partially match the circada’s cycle with a 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year etc. cycle of their own.
13 years sounds like a better way to go to avoid predators by the same principle. But another circada species already had that 13 year cycle tied up. A 17 year cycle avoids predators and the other circadas which might make it difficult to find food, maybe find your own circada species for mating.
Definitely an extreme version of timing of a mating cycle to avoid the maximum number of predators and maximize resources available and avoid competition with similar species.
I wonder how bad it is when the 13 year and the 17 year broods come out together, it will be every few hundred years but I imagine THAT would be a racket....
Maryland’s 17 year hatching happened a few years ago. It was terrible. As soon as the sun came up the noise would wake me up in my apartment. Maddening.
The last time I was on the turnpike they were their and operating. Their here now some areas worse than others seems whenever I ride my motorcycle thats when their the worst.
CC
Boy,it makes so much sense if you think about them having a council meeting and discussing the finer points of prime factors and such before “programming” their mating seasons.
“But I don’t WANT to wait 17 years for sex!”
“Consider yourself lucky we didn’t choose 29.”
Actually that’s what the guy who ate them said. they taste “nutty”.
Is this a terrorist or illegal alien article?
Eagerly awaiting the AMNESTY promised by McCain-Kennedy.
Last time they came out in VA, my son brought me one - “Dad, bet you won’t eat this bug! I bet a dollar!”
Munch, munch.
Ten minutes later, he shows up again with six friends, “Dad, I bet you won’t eat this bug! I bet a dollar!”
Munch, munch.
He looks at his six buddies, and says, “Ok, that will be a dollar each.”
I choked laughing.
So once in 17 years, cicadas emerge for one month to get some before they die, but they get eaten by a dog first.
Life sucks.
Liberal cicadas?
I like mine covered in Chocolate
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