Zoo animals chow down on uncommon cicadas
Animals on the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, have been noticed consuming cicadas. The periodical cicadas have emerged for the primary time in 17 years and are a part of two broods. The final time this occurred was in 1803.
The low hum of summer season sometimes consists of lawnmowers and scorching burgers — and this yr, it might be the sound of cicadas.
This yr’s brood of bugs stands out as the second-biggest ever.
Two kinds of cicadas generally exist within the Jap United States: annual cicadas, which emerge yearly, and periodical cicadas, which emerge each 13 or 17 years, in accordance with the Environmental Safety Company (EPA). The bugs reside primarily in timber and shrubs.
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Broods are a approach of categorizing cicadas primarily based on this sample, and fewer of a organic trait.
As a result of broods emerge in several areas, locations that had cicadas final yr might not have them this yr, in accordance with Dr. John R. Cooley, affiliate professor-in-residence of ecology and evolutionary biology on the College of Connecticut.
Two kinds of cicadas generally exist within the Jap United States: annual cicadas and periodical cicadas. (iStock)
It’s the second-largest behind Brood XIX, the “Great Southern Brood,” which final emerged in 2024 in 15 states from Oklahoma to Maryland.
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Whereas there may be one other “Great Eastern Brood” – Brood X, which emerged in 2021 – Brood XIV is bigger, and will thus be thought-about the “Great(er) Eastern Brood.”
Brood XIV will emerge in states starting from Georgia all the way in which as much as New York, in accordance with the College of Connecticut.
Due to the way in which broods emerge in several areas, locations that had cicadas final yr might not have them this yr. (iStock)
What to anticipate throughout an emergence
“Once an emergence gets going, it lasts about a month, depending on the weather,” Cooley mentioned.
“It seems like the weather this year has been quite strange — the emergence is well underway in North Carolina, but further north, because of the cold weather, it hasn’t even really started yet in Pennsylvania,” he added.
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Grownup cicadas climb into timber and shrubs to mate, after which females deposit their eggs onto small twigs.
The infants, known as nymphs, hatch from these eggs after six weeks and fall to the bottom. They then burrow into the soil and start feeding on the roots of timber and shrubs to restart the cicada lifecycle, in accordance with the EPA.
Cicada emergences sometimes final a couple of month, in accordance with an knowledgeable. (iStock)
Cicadas is not going to eat leaves, flowers, fruits or backyard produce, so it’s not essential to take particular precautions to cowl or apply further pesticides in your backyard, the above supply said.
“People should keep in mind that what they are seeing is unique — there is no other place in the world where such a thing happens, and they are found only in the U.S.,” Cooley identified.
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The EPA additionally notes that cicadas don’t chunk or sting, and they aren’t dangerous to people, pets, family gardens or crops.
