🦗 Cicadas: They didn’t ask to be this way

Don't hate them because they're numerous. Cicadas are always on the way. When a big brood emerges, the beady-eyed, bewinged bugs take over trees, sidewalks, and the media for weeks at a time. Nonperiodical (or “annual”) cicadas pop up all over the world in reasonable numbers every year, but periodical broods, whose unusual life cycles provide safety in numbers from their many predators, are almost exclusive to the US. This year has seen the biggest such group, Brood X or the [Great Eastern Brood](, erupt from the soil across the mid-Atlantic and stretching as far west as Indiana—where we haven’t sealed their fates with asphalt, that is. Love them or hate them (at Quartz, we’re divided), they are undeniably a net positive for our ecosystem. They [don’t damage plants once they emerge from the ground](. They don’t bite, they don’t spread disease, they feed a lot of other wildlife, and their exoskeletons decompose into nice tree fertilizer. In a lot of ways, periodical cicadas are one of nature’s more spectacular reminders that, for the most part, the planet is still operational. If Brood X hadn’t made its entrance, it would have been a truly terrifying sign. It may feel like a bug invasion, but cicadas have been doing their thing for hundreds of millions of years. How long have you been doing yours? 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Weekly Obsession] Cicadas May 26, 2021 Don’t hate them because they’re numerous --------------------------------------------------------------- Cicadas are always on the way. When a big brood emerges, the beady-eyed, bewinged bugs take over trees, sidewalks, and the media for weeks at a time. Nonperiodical (or “annual”) cicadas pop up all over the world in reasonable numbers every year, but periodical broods, whose unusual life cycles provide safety in numbers from their many predators, are almost exclusive to the US. This year has seen the biggest such group, Brood X or the [Great Eastern Brood](, erupt from the soil across the mid-Atlantic and stretching as far west as Indiana—where we haven’t sealed their fates with asphalt, that is. Love them or hate them (at Quartz, we’re divided), they are undeniably a net positive for our ecosystem. They [don’t damage plants once they emerge from the ground](. They don’t bite, they don’t spread disease, they feed a lot of other wildlife, and their exoskeletons decompose into nice tree fertilizer. In a lot of ways, periodical cicadas are one of nature’s more spectacular reminders that, for the most part, the planet is still operational. If Brood X hadn’t made its entrance, it would have been a truly terrifying sign. It may feel like a bug invasion, but cicadas have been doing their thing for hundreds of millions of years. How long have you been doing yours? 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Quotable “This is a feel-good story, folks. It really is and it’s in a year we need more. When they come out, it’s a great sign that forests are in good shape. All is as it is supposed to be.” —John Cooley, entomologist at the University of Connecticut, to [Al Jazeera]( By the digits [200 million years:]( Length of time cicadas have walked the Earth [100 decibels:]( Intensity at which a big group of cicadas can chorus, analogous to a lawn mower or a live concert [3,400:]( Number of distinct cicada species, including nonperiodical cicadas [400:]( Number of eggs laid by a female cicada at one time [4-6 weeks:]( Average lifespan of a single cicada, once emerged [12:]( Number of broods of periodical cicadas in the US. The only other two known periodical broods emerge in Fiji and India, in shorter cycles. [2:]( Number of periodical broods that have gone extinct, largely due to paving and deforestation [~1,000:]( Number of postcards received when the US Department of Agriculture crowdsourced cicada-sighting data in 1902 1,000 words [A green cicada with clear wings standing on a man's fingers in the Rainforest of Tanjung Putin National Park on October 29, 2013 in Kumai, Kalimantan, Indonesia.] Most periodical cicadas are blue-black with red eyes and iridescent wings. But annual cicadas come in all sorts of hues, like this one found in the Tanjung Puting National Park in Kalimantan, Indonesia in 2013. Explain it like I’m 5! A bug’s life --------------------------------------------------------------- The window during which you see a periodical cicada is [a frantic one for the bug](. Brood X mothers laid their eggs in tree branches in 2004, then died. When the eggs hatched several weeks later, the hatchlings’ first introduction to the world was a steep fall onto the ground below, where they burrowed into the soil. There, they spent 17 years enjoying the relative safety of the underground, feeding on the sap of tree roots and moving through adolescent stages at a relatively glacial pace. (For comparison, a [mosquito’s]( life begins and ends in mere days.) In the spring of this year, once the soil reached 64°F (18°C), they began to [move upwards](, doggedly trying to find any vertical surface where they can sit for a bit, shed their childish exoskeletons, and emerge as pale, red-eyed nymphs. For birds and other insect-eaters, it’s a feast. For fungi that attack cicada butts and [turn them into sex-crazed maniacs](, it’s a festival. Those who survive long enough to harden into their many-hued adult forms mate as soon as possible. Males emit the classic cicada screech to find females, who respond with a more subtle click. Tail-to-tail sex happens. Within an hour, the female slits open a branch and lays hundreds of eggs. Both males and females die. Their [offspring will repeat the cycle](, if they’re incredibly lucky, and check back in with the world above in 2038. In some ways, cicadas have a charmed existence. The vast majority of their life is spent in a sort of suspended teenager-hood, chilling together in nature’s basement, sipping on soda. Their adulthood may be a brutal awakening, but it’s brief. This one weird trick! Shrimp of the trees --------------------------------------------------------------- Many parts of the world already know that insects can be good and abundant sources of protein. And in cicadas’ case—though they may seem too precious/disgusting to consume—they reportedly [taste like shrimp](. Big bonus: Swapping them for more typical meat is [a climate-conscious move](. [DC-area restaurants have been experimenting]( with putting them in tacos, tossing them with pasta (say “cicada scampi” five times fast), and even [dunking them in chocolate](. Experts say you can feel free to experiment on your own, and recommend starting by finding a younger, more tender, grublike specimen. If you’re still feeling up to it after reading that sentence, [get cooking](. Giphy Pop quiz What does it mean if you see a letter “W” on a cicada’s wing? That cicada goes by the name Walter.Witches are coming.Winter is coming.War is coming. Correct. According to an old wives’ tale, that is. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Fun fact! Cicadas drink a lot of tree sap when they’re young. They excrete it in the form of a sugary liquid called “honeydew,” which can be felt as a gentle spray when walking under a tree. Some insects, animals, and fungi consider this a delicacy. Though it’s not dissimilar from the maple sap we turn into syrup, it is, essentially, [bug urine](. BBC Watch this! Follow the cicada through its unusual life cycle with the help of David Attenborough, who mimics the female cicada’s come-hither wing click with a snap of his fingers. The lovely/hideous red eyes of the male cicada apparently do not help it determine that it is lustily advancing towards a creature shaped like a beloved elderly British broadcaster, not a female of its species. Take me down this 🐰 hole! A swarm within a swarm --------------------------------------------------------------- While those living within Brood X’s territory may feel invaded by tiny aliens, the cicadas have a similarly chaotic storm inside their own little adorable/gross bodies. Most insects rely on two types of internal bacteria to supply amino acids they can’t make on their own. In cicadas, one of those types of bacteria—Hodgkinia—split at some point into two versions, each carrying a portion of the original Hodgkinia’s genes. Then, they split again. And again. Brood X relies on as many as 42 different communities of microbes to survive. [As the Atlantic’s Ed Yong put it](, “It’s like a chef who’s trying to bake one cake using 42 tiny kitchens, each of which has only a couple of the necessary utensils and ingredients.” Reuters/Cheney Orr Poll Cicadas: Fascinating creatures or menace to society? [Click here to vote]( They seem so cuteThey seem so horridThey seem so delicious Illustration by James Daw Membership While the regularly scheduled appearance of Brood X is a good sign, the disappearance of Arctic sea ice means something is very wrong. It’s a result of our warming climate, brought to us by decades of uninhibited carbon emissions. This wholesale transformation of terrain will change our relationship with the Arctic. Find out which countries [stand to gain](—and what the planet [stands to lose](—in our latest field guide. [Read the guide]( 💬 let's talk! In last week’s poll about [thrifting](, 44% said you’re shopping way less, while 19% live to Depop now. 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?]( 💡 [What should we obsess over next?]( 🎲 [Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Susan Howson]( (who loves cicadas), edited by [Liz Webber]( (who has yet to meet one), and produced by [Jordan Weinstock]( (who was unconvinced by this email). [facebook]([twitter]([external-link]( The correct answer to the quiz is War is coming.. Enjoying the Quartz Weekly Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! Want to advertise in the Quartz Weekly Obsession? Send us an email at ads@qz.com. Not enjoying it? No worries. [Click here]( to unsubscribe. Quartz | 675 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10011 | United States