The Cicadas Are Here. Please Enjoy These Horrible Pictures Of Them
Folks: it's happening. Brood X just dropped, and things are about to get loud and exoskeletony.
If you aren't up to speed, here's a little explainer on these cicadas, which emerge every 17 years to terrorize over a dozen states in the eastern US. (There are a few different groups that emerge along different timelines, but one of the big groups is coming out now.)
A few things to know:
- Cicadas won't hurt you. Don't try to use insecticide to ward them off, as it will not work on them but may harm your pets and other small animals instead. Also, your dog might try to eat them, and while one or two is okay, consuming a bunch could make them sick.
- They won't destroy your garden, but they can damage young trees, so if you have any you want to protect, cover them in weatherproof mesh. Older trees will be fine.
- They're here for a good time, not a long time: after they come out, shed their exoskeletons and have a bunch of sex, they'll be gone by the end of June.
You can read more here, but long story short: they'll be around for a while making a bunch of noise and generally grossing us out, but they won't hurt you, and you should just let them do their thing until they take their leave in a month or so.
In the meantime, let's gawk at the extremely wild and weird life and times of the 17-year cicadas. Gnarly!
- That is… a lot of cicadas:
2. Nope.
3. Sir WHY are you so calm:
4. Nice photo of a tree, but I don't see — oh. Oh no.
5. NOPE.
6. Okay, this one is kind of pretty:
7. But this is too many. No.
8. Well this is just wholesome:
9. It is officially cicada girl summer:
That's all we'll subject you to for now. Enjoy, or hide out, or do whatever you want — just let the cicadas shed their weird shells and have their bug sex in peace, and we'll have the outdoors back soon. <3
