THE WORLD IS BEAUTIFUL

by **Paul** Mon 03 Jun 2024, 3:47 pm

NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240530_02734

See how billions of cicadas are taking over the U.S. this summer
As much of the central U.S. is being blanketed by these buzzing insects, photographer Keith Ladzinski captures the strange and wondrous double emergence event that only occurs every 200 years.

A cluster of Brood XIX cicadas feed on the top of a small tree in central Illinois. This part of the U.S. is witnessing the rare double emergence of two broods of periodical cicada, Brood XIII and Brood XIX—the first time this has happened in 221 years.

Photographs byKeith Ladzinski

ByAmy McKeever

May 31, 2024

There’s a deafening buzz in the air in parts of the United States: Billions of periodical cicadas have emerged after spending 13 or 17 years underground. Their one mission is to mate—and to find one another they emit buzzing and clicking sounds from their perches in the trees.
The noise can reach a hundred decibels, or “about the level of a jet engine,” according to Tamra Reall, an entomologist and horticulture field specialist at the University of Missouri who goes by “Dr. Bug.”
It’s not just loud. This year’s simultaneous emergence of two broods of periodical cicadas across the Midwest and Southeast is a rare occurrence that hasn't been seen in 221 years.

National Geographic photographer Keith Ladzinski spent a few days in central Illinois—where Brood XIII and Brood XIX overlap—documenting a spectacle unlike any other as the flying insects fill the air and shed their exoskeletons.

NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240529_02438-Backgrounds-2

NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240529_02438-Backgrounds-2

A freshly hatched cicada crawls over a sea of hatched shells in central Illinois in search of a safe place to hide while its new adult exoskeleton hardens. In this stage, cicadas are the most vulnerable to predators. But experts say their oddly timed and synchronized life cycles provide safety in numbers.

Ladzinski captured some amazing moments of the cicadas' strange life cycle, from the moment they molt into adults to cicadas up in the trees searching for mates. But how exactly does it all work—and what are the biggest threats cicadas face in their short lives? Here are some key cicada facts:
There are 15 recognized broods of U.S. periodical cicadas. This year is the first time since 1803—when the U.S. President Thomas Jefferson was still in office—that Brood XIII and Brood XIX emerged simultaneously. However, each of the broods has a distinct geographic range with little overlap between them.
They emerge as adults at the same time—and in regular intervals. Unlike annual cicadas, which come out every summer, periodical cicadas only emerge every 13 or 17 years. Experts tell us that they know when to do so by counting the seasonal pulses of fluid flowing in tree roots from which they feed underground, then wait until the soil gets to the right temperature—around 65°F (18°C)—to take to the skies.
For cicadas, there's safety in numbers. Periodical species haven’t evolved to develop evasive maneuvers quite like their annual cicada brethren, which know to quickly flee from predators like birds and moles. But their synchronized schedules boost their survival as their broods are so dense—as many as 1.5 million may crowd a single acre—that the risk to any individual periodical cicada approaches zero.

Annoyed by the sound? That's probably a male cicada. Most of a cicada's short adulthood is spent searching for a mate. Males issue the deafening vocalizations you hear with vibrating membranes on their abdomens while females male a clicking noise in return.
Some cicadas have a fungus that turns them into sex zombies. One threat awaits cicadas when they emerge from the ground: a parasitic fungus called Massospora that eats them from the inside out, takes over their bodies, and keeps them just alive enough to spread the disease to their mates during reproduction.

NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * G35A1225

NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * G35A1225

Entomologist Catherine Dana collects cicadas for her research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In the science community, any year that periodical cicadas emerge is meaningful as a rare opportunity to study the insects that only emerge every 13 or 17 years. But 2024 is special with the dual emergence of two broods simultaneously.

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NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240528_00338

Dana, a cicada specialist, dissects the abdomen of a cicada to check for infection spores. Periodical cicadas have a particularly strange predator: a parasitic fungus called Massospora that eats them from the inside out and drives them to mate to spread the disease among the horde.

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NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240528_01026

A freshly hatched cicada emerges from its hardened cocoon-like nymph shell. Cicada swarms are far less destructive than locusts as they don't actually eat vegetation but drink the sap from trees. But in large numbers they can overwhelm smaller trees.

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NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240530_02852

A cicada treads a dangerous path past the rim of a nest full of robin chicks. For birds, billions of cicadas emerging en masse provides a bountiful feast.

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NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240529_02532

A dead cicada is dropped into a shot of Malort at Noon Whistle Brewing, a bar in a suburb of Chicago. Around the world, it’s not uncommon for people to eat insects, and this cicada season in the United States, it’s no different as people grill, fry, and even infuse drinks with them.

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NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240528_00638

Upon hatching and allowing their new adult exoskeletons to harden, cicadas take to the safety of the nearest treetop to begin singing and breeding. Males call out to potential mates by producing buzzing and clicking sounds with vibrating membranes on their abdomens.

NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240528_00202-Backgrounds-2

NAT GEO * the cicada double swarm * MM10196_240528_00202-Backgrounds-2

Cicadas climb a tree in the Nachusa Grasslands, a 4,000-acre preserve in central Illinois. The grasslands provided ample space for the cicada horde to spread out; however, the sound when they all chipped in unison was deafening.