May 13, 2004
The cicadas are coming!
They're Here -- Cicada Cycle Fascinates U.S.: "The first cicada of the season sat on the doorstep like a mutant bumblebee, with red eyes and yellow legs.
But, apparently alarmed by the appearance of a human, it tumbled off the shallow step, landing helplessly on its back. Its yellow legs wiggled frantically to no effect.
How could anything so stupid and clumsy survive, and prosper in such huge numbers? Billions, probably trillions, of cicadas are emerging this month across the eastern United States in a monster swarm known as Brood X or brood 10.
Scientists plan to study the mass coming out of Brood X to find out. Did their bizarre 17-year cycle evolve because they are such easy prey, or did it allow them to evolve into the clumsy, noisy creatures that they are?
"Brood X is likely to be the largest insect emergence on Earth," said Keith Clay, a cicada expert at Indiana University.
Starting this week, across much of the eastern United States, from Georgia north to southern New York and as far west as Illinois, the cicadas will emerge from their 17 years of sucking on tree roots underground to engage in a two-week orgy of calling, mating, laying eggs and then dying."
SCARY! Here is a NatGeo article which is much more scientific ... and did you know that that some people LOVE eating those ugly things?
But, apparently alarmed by the appearance of a human, it tumbled off the shallow step, landing helplessly on its back. Its yellow legs wiggled frantically to no effect.
How could anything so stupid and clumsy survive, and prosper in such huge numbers? Billions, probably trillions, of cicadas are emerging this month across the eastern United States in a monster swarm known as Brood X or brood 10.
Scientists plan to study the mass coming out of Brood X to find out. Did their bizarre 17-year cycle evolve because they are such easy prey, or did it allow them to evolve into the clumsy, noisy creatures that they are?
"Brood X is likely to be the largest insect emergence on Earth," said Keith Clay, a cicada expert at Indiana University.
Starting this week, across much of the eastern United States, from Georgia north to southern New York and as far west as Illinois, the cicadas will emerge from their 17 years of sucking on tree roots underground to engage in a two-week orgy of calling, mating, laying eggs and then dying."
SCARY! Here is a NatGeo article which is much more scientific ... and did you know that that some people LOVE eating those ugly things?
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