On-topic: I don't know why, but the videos of masses of cicadas always seemed so overwhelming to me, I mean I just cannot imagine walking through an effected area. Nature can truly produce incredible phenomena.
Fun math in action here: these two broods emerge every 13 and 17 years, respectively. Those two numbers are coprime, so their least common multiple, the next time a multiple of one will coincide with a multiple of the other, is 13 * 17 = 221, which subtracted from 2024 is 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president and the previous time the broods emerged in the same year.
The simultaneous appearance of the two cicada broods – known as Brood XIX and Brood XII – is a rare event, not having occurred since 1803, a year when Thomas Jefferson was US president
Also to the point: the reason that the breeding cycles of these species are prime numbers of years is that it makes it less likely for a successful predator to evolve. To be a successful specialized predator of these species, your feeding cycle has to be a multiple of their breeding cycle which in practical terms means, since the cycles are so long, it has to be a exact match.
The 13s also get 17-1 breeding iterations without shared food competition from the 17s, etc, during the breeding days. The coprime periods effect strong attraction to the involved prime periods.
Take notice if you're a motorcycle rider. If you see a swarm, pull over and drive at minimum speed because crushed bugs en masse can absolutely de-bike you.
> The two broods may only overlap slightly in a small area of central Illinois, meaning there mostly won’t be a larger-than-normal boom in numbers in any one place
It's too bad that for all the headlines making this sound like a biblical plague the reality will be that this summer won't be much different from normal unless you actually care to get to so up close and personal with these bugs that you'll notice differences in species.
I'm hoping that they'll at least sound different enough that I can appreciate the variety since I almost never see them crawling or flying.
I remember last time the 17 year brood emerged I was living in Illinois. I remember riding my bike to school and it was impossible to not run over a bunch of cicadas. Also a nearby zoo was paying people to bring in buckets of them which they would use to feed animals there.
The logistics of transportation sound tricky. Am I scooping up dead cicadas? If live, transporting the bulk intact is going to be fun. I am imagining broke teenagers balancing squirming buckets on a bike handlebars.
Yep, it was basically something for us kids and teens to do to make some cash, and iirc there were a decent amount of people who did it that lived nearby the zoo
Is the US really "bracing" for this event? Girding their loins to brace in anticipation of this event? Bracing their bodies or their minds? Will the Walmart people make runs on toilet paper? If I want to properly brace, what do the experts say?
(source:
> In 2024, 13-year Brood XIX, which is the largest of all periodical cicada broods, will co-emerge with 17-year Brood XIII; these two broods are adjacent (but not significantly overlapping) in north-central Illinois.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 115 ms ] threadOn-topic: I don't know why, but the videos of masses of cicadas always seemed so overwhelming to me, I mean I just cannot imagine walking through an effected area. Nature can truly produce incredible phenomena.
The simultaneous appearance of the two cicada broods – known as Brood XIX and Brood XII – is a rare event, not having occurred since 1803, a year when Thomas Jefferson was US president
https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2019/05/20/everythi...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals
Some how they keep track of the growing cycle of the trees they feed on.
It's not really that important, but I do it as a form of tribute to the cicadas.
It's too bad that for all the headlines making this sound like a biblical plague the reality will be that this summer won't be much different from normal unless you actually care to get to so up close and personal with these bugs that you'll notice differences in species.
I'm hoping that they'll at least sound different enough that I can appreciate the variety since I almost never see them crawling or flying.
The logistics of transportation sound tricky. Am I scooping up dead cicadas? If live, transporting the bulk intact is going to be fun. I am imagining broke teenagers balancing squirming buckets on a bike handlebars.
Brace, brace, brace. Brace for bugs.
The last big brood was a bust where I live (About 30 miles west of Chicago downtown.)
Man, walking outside to a concert volume roar was nuts. And then them flying around and pelting you.
Then opening your car door quick and shutting it because they like to fly at you right as you get in in.
Was driving and noticed one walking on my neck. I certainly was braced in that moment.
Where should we travel to see the cicadas?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas#Map_of_broo...
You might want to double-check with a local. The ones closest to you in Dallas would be Brood XIX, the light blue ones on the map.
(source: > In 2024, 13-year Brood XIX, which is the largest of all periodical cicada broods, will co-emerge with 17-year Brood XIII; these two broods are adjacent (but not significantly overlapping) in north-central Illinois.
- https://cicadas.uconn.edu/)