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Billions Of Cicadas: Are The Bugs Swarming The East Coast Dangerous? [VIDEO]
By Philip Ross | April 8, 2013 2:17 PM EDT
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Cicadas are about the size of a large paperclip and produce a loud buzzing sound to attract mates. This spring, the air will be filled with the hum of the cicada, as billions of the bugs are about to invade the East Coast of the U.S. (Photo: Creative Commons)
Billions of cicadas will rise from the ground and swarm the northeastern U.S. this spring. The billions of cicadas have been buried in the soil for almost two decades, living off the juices from plant roots. Soon, they will sprout from the soil, throng the trees, and produce their extremely loud buzzing sound – which can be heard up to a mile away and sounds like the hum of power lines – as part of their mating ritual.
The Epoch Times reports that after a week or so of mating, the billions of cicadas will shed their final skin and fly off. Will the billions of cicadas coming to the northeastern corner of the U.S. cause any problems, and are they dangerous?
The billions of cicadas about to invade the Northeast are called Brood II cicadas and emerge from their underground nests every 17 years. This latest generation is the offspring of the 1996 cicada invasion. According to National Geographic, cicadas, which are about the length of a large paper clip, burrow in the ground after hatching and live off of the roots of plants for many, many years. They have stout bodies, large heads, clear wings and large eyes. They are located throughout the northeastern corner of the U.S. from North Carolina to New England.
While the exact timing of the cicada invasion is unknown, the Wildlife Conservation Society predicts that the billions of cicada will be here sometime between mid-April and late May. In order for them to emerge, the ground must reach a temperature of 64 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Yahoo News.
Yummy, they taste just like chicken when you stir fry them with a little butter and garlic…
They don’t bug me at all.
Just going through their cycle-they be cool
Call it like it is, is right – Now most Americans think bugs are yucky (and they are) however, free food is free food and if you’ve got a locusts or cicadas epidemic – catch them, clean them off good and stir fry them.
Bugs are low in fat, high in protein and free.
We eat cows, pigs are real popular and they roll around in their waste. Cows and sheep walk around and step in theirs and my girlfriend’s brother has worked a “kill floor” for 30 years and says our slaughter houses are not clean.
We haven’t seen hardly any around here (locusts or cicadas) but if we get a whole bunch of them, I may try to cook some up………hamburger, chicken, pork is going up and heaven knows what the factory farmers are shooting our live stock up with. The fish swim through either the Gulf stream or Pacific and there you’re looking at the BP Oil spill (still leaking), the CorExit sprayed on top of it and with the Pacific, Fukushima so the bugs can’t be any worse.
20 years from now people turning their nose up at bugs now may see them in a whole new light.
In Asia, bugs are considered a delicacy.
Call It, are you joking around or have you actually tried any kind of bug? Curious as to anyone out there that has????
Again, free food is free food and there are a heck of a lot of bugs.
There’s an idea, one could raise some kind of edible bugs making sure they’re raised in a clean environment and make some money.
Don’t think I could get my family (or me) to try it unless that was all there was and I was pretty hungry.
The wildest thing I ever ate was octopus and squid (Thai)and that was good.
Anyone out there really eat any bugs and if so are they tasty?