Christy
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Sylva, North Carolina (the far Western Tip of the State)
Posts: 10272 |
They're Back!! Is everyone ready???
DO THESE THINGS COME OUT EVERYWHERE? OR JUST A FEW PLACES? DO YOU HAVE THEM WHERE YOU LIVE?
I DONT REMEMBER SEEING THEM, BUT WE'RE PLANNING ON GOING TO SEE THEM WHEN THEY COME OUT.
WAS JUST CURIOUS IF ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED THESE BEFORE. I DONT REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT IT, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN WHEN I WAS 13. LOL.
They’re back: 17-year cicadas set for a noisy mating season
Appearance in WNC will be ‘spectacular’
ASHEVILLE – Beware the brood. The 17-year cicadas are coming any day now. And there's not much anyone should - or could - do about it, except hang on for a wild, eerie ride.
These odd insects will emerge from the ground sometime this month, swarm into trees, make the craziest mating noise, and then die, blanketing the ground with their lifeless bodies. This particular bunch of cicadas is not to be confused with their similar 13-year cycle cousins, or the annual cicadas that appear every summer. Nor are they Biblical crop-destroying locusts.
Cicadas are grouped into 30 broods, depending on the year they arrive. This next bunch hails from Brood XIV.
Their appearance is "spectacular," said Tim Forrest, who teaches entomology at UNC Asheville. "When you have thousands or millions come out simultaneously, it can be quite scary. They don't bite. But they do a lot of flying."
He's already noticed small holes in the ground, signaling their imminent arrival.
During their last appearance in 1991, the 17-year-cicadas were especially thick in Biltmore Forest.
"At night, they would be quiet, but when the sun would come up, it was like throwing a switch," said Chief Eric Tinsley, of the Biltmore Forest Police Department, who was then a town patrolman.
He also remembers the crunching sound of cars running over the dead cicadas left on streets. "It was like popcorn popping," he said.
"They made a racket constantly," said Terry Crouch, of the Biltmore Forest Public Works Department. "It was a big noise and a big mess."
In the insect kingdom, the 17-year cicada is "unusual in having this long life cycle," said Jim Costa, who teaches biology at Western Carolina University and directs the Highlands Biological Station teaching center.
"It's a remarkable life cycle. They live many years underground. They have their last hooray, a mating frenzy. They lay their eggs and die very soon."
The show can be over in a week or two, depending on temperatures, he said.
Even in death, they "provide a valuable service," Costa said.
"Imagine the sheer biomass. That's a lot of nutrition being pumped into the ecosystem. The birds will have a field day."
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05-12-2008 03:43 PM
