If you ever wondered which critter in the animal kingdom is, pound-for-pound, the strongest pisser, look no further. It is the lowly cicada. Its head contains a pump to draw in liquids from trees, and its lower end has jets built in to get rid of the waste. There is a type of tree in the Amazon that's known as the weeping tree, but it's not tree tears coming down, it's cicada piss. Before you start thinking you might want to live your next life as a cicada, drinking and pissing, be advised that the critter has a little issue with a sexually-transmitted fungus that rips their gonads off and turns them into zombies. Cicadas are nature's weirdos. They pee stronger than us and an STD can turn them into zombies
Cicadas are in the news this year because there are two significant broods that will be emerging at the same time, with the largest numbers seen in decades, or possibly centuries. The last time these two broods came out together was 1803. Their collective song is said to be as loud as jet engines (not sure I believe that). Most counties that have cicadas will see about a million of these things per acre over 16 states. The two largest broods will come out in 2076.
It’s an awesome sound! They quiet down in the evening though. I live with tinnitus, so it’s cicada songs all day every day.
I am fond of their sound - it reminds me of playing with friends in late summer evenings when I was a kid.
Frogs infestations down under Avian flu / mad cow Hailstorms Solar eclipse Boils (alright, this is a reach) Now locusts What are we missing. Water to blood? If I see some dude collecting pairs of animals, I'm finna knock off some bucket list stuff immediately.
Yep. And I love the sound of a slightly distant train horn as I'm falling asleep for similarly nostalgic reasons.
There is one brood that is on a 17 year cycle in Northern Virginia. I recall going to a party in 2003 (or could have been 2004) and it was straight up biblical outside. I remember having to put my hand over my cup of beer because they kept landing in it. Thick swarms. It was pretty wild.
Interestingly, cicada species mature in only two time frames, either 13 years or 17 years, but never any number in between. The best explanation for this so far is that 13 and 17 are prime numbers, so it would be harder for potential predators to train on their emergence. Eg If they emerged after 15 years, they would be caught every third generation by any predator with a 5 year lifespan.
We're breaking into your regularly scheduled programming for this important public service announcement: "When to Call 911 on Cicadas". I'm kinda curious myself because I'm starting to see termites wandering around my ceiling, and am wondering when I should call the cops on them, assuming that similar rules apply. What does a South Carolinian expect the sheriff and his deputies to do? "Open fire on 'em, boys, we got a lot of killin' to do! Put your weapons on full automatic and let 'em have it! Spray steel in 360 degrees! Everybody just hold the trigger down and spin like a top! They want noise, we'll give 'em noise! Ouch! Dammit--who shot me?" Cicadas have emerged in South Carolina — and they're so loud some people are calling 911. Here's what to know about this year's emergence.
