WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.360 Hi, I'm Stephen Ray, UNISEF ambassador. What's next on your 2 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:08.400 bucket list? Imagine adding something extraordinary to your list and 3 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:12.039 changing a child's life. Join me in leaving a gift 4 00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:15.160 in your will to UNISEF and help bring safe water, 5 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:20.640 education and hope to children across the world. Visit UNISEF 6 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:24.199 dot ie forward slash bucket to receive your free bucket 7 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:28.079 list journal, or call zero one eight seven eight three thousand. 8 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:29.079 Thank you. 9 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.280 Oh hello, this is smologies If you're like, what is that? 10 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:36.240 Smologies are digests of classic episodes. We've taken a classic 11 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.759 episode that was for adults. Sometimes we've cut them down 12 00:00:39.799 --> 00:00:43.039 so they're shorter, they're kids safe, they're g rated. Okay, 13 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:46.159 they're just for you. This one about Skatas love, this 14 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:48.920 one Cicatas are back and so we're making this asmologies 15 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:51.640 for you, so do enjoy. If you want the full 16 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:55.479 length all the details, including some swearing, you can find 17 00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:58.280 the original full length version at the link in the shutouts, 18 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:01.320 But for now, this is just a shortyologies. Oh hey, 19 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:03.759 it's your friend's older sister Ali Ward back with an 20 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:06.760 episode I have waited most of my life for no exaggeration. 21 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:09.359 When I first came up with ologies as a concept. 22 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:11.840 It was partly just to drink an expert into talking 23 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:16.200 to me about cicadas. Okay, let's get to cicadology. Cicada 24 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:19.879 in Latin means tree cricket, but your Appalachian friends may 25 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:22.959 call them jarflies. I just found out I have only 26 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:25.319 seen a cicada in the wild maybe three times in 27 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:28.040 my life, and each time I crowded around it and 28 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:32.159 gasped and took pictures like an American at the Eiffel Tower. 29 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:36.439 I have never even seen a periodical cicada, the ones 30 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:40.280 that emerge in the trillions every thirteen or seventeen years 31 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:43.079 in the US. So this year we're getting ahead of 32 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:47.200 their emergence. And this ologist who is the authority on 33 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:51.680 periodical cicadas, he hails from North Dakota. He's written multiple 34 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:55.400 bug books and authored scores of papers on insects. He 35 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:59.680 is the cicada guy. So he typically appears in the 36 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:02.920 news sometimes maybe you've seen him in all khaki field 37 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:05.719 gear and a tan sun hat. And he has a 38 00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:10.039 gentle silver beard with kind of a tidy upturned mustache, 39 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.599 like a friendly smile. And we hopped on a call 40 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:15.879 to record, and I just screwed it up so bad, 41 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.280 Like immediately I dropped off the connection and I could 42 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:22.159 not log back in, and there were all these tech hiccups. 43 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:26.879 So I texted our wonderful assistant scheduler, Noel Dilworth. I said, hey, 44 00:02:26.919 --> 00:02:28.759 I sent him a new link, but he hasn't shown up, 45 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:30.879 but I hope he's not mad. And then I got 46 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:33.879 the reply, I am not distressed, and I had texted 47 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:38.840 him that instead of Noell. So, between wanting to do 48 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.639 this episode for seventeen years and then talking to the 49 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:46.120 world expert in it and texting him about him, my 50 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:51.280 level of body sweat was clinically dangerous, but regardless, we 51 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:53.520 figured it out. We got on the line to chat 52 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:58.560 about life cycles and ghostly remains, cicada chasing the decibel 53 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:01.520 levels of our spring time I'm friends, and what you 54 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.960 should do if you see a cicada, the app Cicada Safari, 55 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:10.000 and what they are doing underground for nearly two decades 56 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:15.560 while we missed them with icon legend and cicadologist doctor 57 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:17.560 Jean Kritsky, who may or may not. 58 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:37.840 Already be mad at me, Algyge, I like. 59 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:39.599 That, are you mad at me? Why? 60 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:40.319 Would I be mad? 61 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.520 I felt so mad. I was like, oh no, maybe 62 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:48.879 he just left forever. I was mortified when I realized 63 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.599 that went to you. But uh, secrets out. I'm a 64 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:56.560 human being's all right? So am I all right? Down 65 00:03:56.599 --> 00:03:57.120 to business. 66 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:00.800 I'm Jean Kritsky and I use here him. 67 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:03.759 And now, can you tell me a little bit about 68 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:08.800 what we can expect this year from the cicada population 69 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:09.719 in the United States. 70 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:12.800 We'll start seeing our first sign of cicadas in late 71 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:16.480 April after a big heavy rain. Some of the cicada, 72 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:19.680 especially the soil is a very heavy clay soil. They'll 73 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:24.120 actually extend their tunnels above ground. They're called chimneys or turrets, 74 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:25.920 firm similar to what crayfish will sometimes do. 75 00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:31.199 Newsflesh to me that crowdads aka crayfish emerge sometimes out 76 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:35.360 of tall, lumpy turrets they build. And also I googled 77 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:39.839 cicada tunnels and one image taken under a deck looked 78 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:43.120 like a coral reef, or like big tall stacks of 79 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:47.120 dirty poker chips, or like the tallest birthday cake ever, 80 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:50.240 out of which a beautiful ghoul pops up to say 81 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:51.720 Happy seventeen Year's Day. 82 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:54.639 Surprise. But that's the first sign that we'll see. That'll 83 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:57.399 be usually this in late April. They come out of 84 00:04:57.399 --> 00:04:59.839 the soil when the soil temperature reaches sixty four to 85 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:03.959 grease fahrenheit. And then very specific, well, these are cicadas, 86 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:05.279 you know, they got they got things to do. They 87 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:06.920 gotta come out in seventeen years. They to keep track 88 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:09.199 of numbers and what have you. Once you hit that 89 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:11.639 temperature for sixty four degrees fahrenheit and then you have 90 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:15.160 a really nice soaking rain that just sort of saturates everything, 91 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:17.800 then they really pop. I mean, it's just it's amazing. 92 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:20.079 The highest density I've ever seen was three hundred and 93 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:23.600 fifty six per square yard. Wow, and that was over 94 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:25.319 the course of about a two week period. They came up. 95 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:26.560 But at the first even they come up by the 96 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:30.680 hundreds and thousands were If there was as much larger, 97 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:33.240 you could probably have a really good sci fi movie. 98 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:36.560 Well, what's the difference between a periodical cicada that might 99 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:41.920 come out every seventeen years or thirteen years and annual cicadas. 100 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:44.120 They belong to different genera, But if you want to 101 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:45.720 look at it, if you look at them, you'll find 102 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:48.480 that the annual cicadas. Some are called dog day cicadas, 103 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:49.959 be could it come on the dog days of summer. 104 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.079 They're much larger, their head is more flat, their eyes 105 00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:55.920 are black, sometimes green. Many of them are black with 106 00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:59.639 brown markings, are black with green markings that were camouflaged. 107 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.160 And as I say, they're about a half inch to 108 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:03.800 an inch larger than the periodicals. 109 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.639 So the annual ones come out in the heat of 110 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:09.959 summer every year, and although they are more chunk, you 111 00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:14.519 won't see their camouflaged bods as readily, and you will 112 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:18.279 not witness anything near the numbers of the periodical cicadas. 113 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:21.240 The annual ones are just all in all more low key. 114 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:24.399 Is that part of their evolutionary strategy is just a 115 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:27.120 ton of them at once. How does that work? 116 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:33.399 Well, it's works well for them. It's called predator satiation, 117 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:35.680 is what we think is happening. They come out in 118 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:38.319 these large numbers. Some of the birds are major predators 119 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:41.720 of them, but their little crops can't hold many more cicadas. 120 00:06:42.279 --> 00:06:45.040 And the analogy I like to use is imagine walking 121 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:47.079 outside and all of a sudden you see the whole 122 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:53.600 world is inundated with flying Hershey's kisses. I'm fond of 123 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:56.519 Hershey's kisses. And you intend to eat and eat and 124 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:58.759 eat and eat and eat so these, but eventually you 125 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:02.360 will get tired of them. In nineteen ninety one and fourteen, 126 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:04.639 Emerginal I saw this dog the first say they're coming up, 127 00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:06.759 snapping out all over in the ark. You's just going 128 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:08.439 at him. Five days later, go back to see how 129 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:10.720 the emergency is going on at some of my test sites, 130 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:15.000 and that dog is just lying on the porch, paws folded, 131 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:16.920 and cicada's walking all around. 132 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:23.040 Does not carried over it. I'm over these things. So 133 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:26.959 periodical cicadas are in the genus Magicicata, and they make 134 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.920 a splash. They are smaller than the annual cicadas, but 135 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:33.560 they have such style in the form of blood red eyes, 136 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:36.959 and there's billions, maybe trillions of them. In fact, their 137 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.759 genus looks like magic cicada, but magi actually comes from 138 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.759 the Latin for many, not from the word magic. But 139 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:46.639 there are over a dozen seventeen year broods and a 140 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.079 small handful of thirteen year broods. And I'm going to 141 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:51.480 link on my website to a US map to see 142 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:54.199 which broods might be in your area. Now, elsewhere in 143 00:07:54.199 --> 00:07:56.920 the world, you can always gaze at an annual cicada. 144 00:07:56.920 --> 00:07:58.839 If you have them, you can tell it you love 145 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:01.000 it if you can find it. But if you have 146 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:03.639 periodicals in your area, they're hard to miss because they 147 00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:06.199 blanket everything. And you know, this is one thing I 148 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:08.720 think that still mystifies us. But can you describe a 149 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:11.720 little bit of the life cycle? What are they doing 150 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:12.560 that whole time. 151 00:08:12.759 --> 00:08:16.040 Let's start when the adults emerge from the ground. But 152 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:18.399 what will happen is I mentioned the soil will be 153 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:22.040 sixty four degrees fahrenheit, nice soaking rain, and that causes 154 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:25.879 the nymph in cicadas to come out of the ground. 155 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:29.079 They start wandering on trying to find a vertical surface 156 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:31.959 to crawl up, because our whole purpose now is to 157 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:35.039 shed their nymphile skin and transform to the adult. I've 158 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:39.080 seen them crawl up trees, brick walls, fence walls, tombstones, 159 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.679 blades of grass, whatever going up. They climb up that 160 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:46.879 surface and they lock their little legs into the tree trunk. 161 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:48.919 Let's say it's a tree, and then all of a sudden, 162 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:52.240 the back of the thorc splits open like somebody wearing 163 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:54.720 a black coat o with a white shirt underneath it, 164 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:56.799 and that's just too small, and they split the seam. 165 00:08:57.759 --> 00:08:59.559 They see this thing open up, and then it goes 166 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:03.000 up and cracks the head capsule, and then slowly the 167 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:07.039 adult cicada wriggles its way out, and by this time 168 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:09.159 it's out. It's white in color, it's got red eyes, 169 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:12.279 two black patches behind the head. And then they'll eventually 170 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:15.200 look like the typical adult cicada with the red eyes 171 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:17.919 and the black body and the numbertous wings with the 172 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:20.360 orange color on the major wing mates at the base. 173 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:22.600 And then the thing I want to do now is 174 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:25.240 basically climb to the tops of the trees and then 175 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:27.840 they start flying, and that's when you'll see the birds 176 00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:30.919 really attuned to them. And at this time more males 177 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.879 emerged the first couple of days than females. That vanguard 178 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:36.240 there is going to give their lives so that others 179 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:36.679 can live. 180 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:40.240 So the early male gets the axe just first on 181 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:44.080 the scene looking for ladies. They are delicious. They're like 182 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:46.200 the first French fry you eat out of the drive through, 183 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:49.639 just the least likely to survive, and males and females 184 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:51.679 will sprout out over the next couple of weeks, all 185 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:53.840 looking for springtime, summer. 186 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:57.279 Loving, and after about five days or so, after they've merged, 187 00:09:57.480 --> 00:09:58.679 the males can start singing. 188 00:09:58.919 --> 00:10:03.279 Yes, many questions about this. When you say singing, what 189 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:07.320 would you say that it sounds like it's beautiful? Yeah, 190 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:09.559 I love it. I think it sounds kind of otherworldly 191 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:11.759 to me. Just this really kind of high pitched buzzing y. 192 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:14.039 It's very much so. There are three species that are 193 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:16.639 calls who are different from the three species. The large one, 194 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:28.440 sept in decim, has a sort of like b and 195 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:30.440 it sounds like when you hear a whole chorus of 196 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:34.159 these things, it sounds like some nineteen fifties science fiction movie. 197 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:36.159 And that's the sound of the flying saucers flying in. 198 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:37.960 Yeah. 199 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:41.039 And then the smaller species, cass and eye, is more 200 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:53.840 of a constant sound, and it doesn't all stay constant 201 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:56.440 and sound and levels. It'll get louder and then drop 202 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.799 off louder, drop off. The highest I've measured is n 203 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:00.879 six decibels. 204 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:03.440 Ooh my gosh. That's about as loud as like a 205 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:07.240 rock band playing right as a rock band. I've never 206 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:10.159 been more like your old uncle, but yes, different calls 207 00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:13.759 like the ones on the wonderful incredible website Cicadamania run 208 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:17.480 by Dan mos Guy hit different decibel levels and some 209 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:20.759 are said to approach one hundred and twenty decibels, which 210 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:23.600 I looked it up, and that is a volume of 211 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:27.480 an ambulance siren. So man bugs screaming for love? 212 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:29.759 I'd say Joe is on the flight path. This is 213 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:33.279 a international airport and skatos will drowned out the jets. 214 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:36.679 Wow, how are they making that loud of a sound? 215 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:39.159 The sound is made by a timble. There are two 216 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:41.919 timbles on the first abdominal segment of the mail, and 217 00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:45.240 then the male's abdomen is mostly hollow, and so that 218 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:47.879 acts almost like a resonator to get a little louder. 219 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:51.200 Think of the belly of a stringed instrument. So there 220 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:54.679 is a reason a violin or acoustic guitar is hollow. 221 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:57.600 And you put ten twenty thousand of these in one tree, 222 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:02.559 it's going to add up. And the sound if you've 223 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:04.679 ever taken the bendy straw, you know the one that 224 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:06.360 has yeah and you can you pull it out? You 225 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:09.120 hear that little snapping sound? Do that about one hundred 226 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:11.240 and fifty to hundred times in a second. And that's 227 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:14.639 your call for that mail amplified with the abdomen being hollow, 228 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:18.519 and then multiply that by twenty thousand, and you might 229 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:20.080 have a good example of a course. 230 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:24.759 Yeah, oh my gosh oh. And also apparently, if you 231 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:27.919 are hosting a boys to kana on your hand and 232 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.759 you want to prompt it to perform, try snapping your 233 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:32.919 fingers at it. It will mistake the sound. 234 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:33.799 For a lady. 235 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:37.639 And then try to impress you by screaming. And now 236 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:42.080 what happens when she is gravid or peggers. 237 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:44.320 What happens, Well, then she's got to find a place 238 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:47.000 to lay her eggs, okay, and she will lay her 239 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:49.240 eggs in the new growth of trees. And she has 240 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:53.120 a structure called an ovipositor, which is a structure at 241 00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:55.360 the tip of her abdomen which she pulls out of 242 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:57.919 a slit the tip of arabuen and then literally it 243 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:00.759 has a central rod and on each side are two 244 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:04.519 structures that are serrated and they move opposite and literally 245 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:08.039 cut into the wood. And it turns out they are 246 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:10.320 also like we see with a nuoned wasp that lay 247 00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:13.039 their eggs in her bark and so on, also reinforced 248 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:15.720 with metals, and these metals are increase along the side 249 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:18.000 of the serrations, so they're armored again. 250 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:21.759 Wow, oh that's amazing. I'm just going to restate that 251 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:26.639 for all of us. So Cicada ladies' ovipositors are serrated 252 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:31.720 like knives and reinforced with metal, also like a knife. 253 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:34.200 She'll lay between ten to twenty eggs, and each little 254 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:36.320 egg nesser it's about a quarter in is long. Walking 255 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:39.480 out of the corners, down puncture the tree twig again, lay 256 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:41.519 more eggs and so on, and she keeps doing that 257 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:43.639 until she either runs out of a branch that she 258 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:45.960 has to fly at another one and eventually runs out 259 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:46.879 of eggs. 260 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:48.440 But they still have quite a trek to make right 261 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:48.840 they do. 262 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:52.799 After she lays her eggs, they die and both the 263 00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:55.000 male is dead and the female then drops dead and 264 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:58.519 that's it. And it takes six to eight weeks after 265 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:01.440 the eggs were laid that they start hatching, and that's 266 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:04.159 usually the end of July first of August if you're 267 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:05.759 at the right time, in the right place. When the 268 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.600 eggs are hatching and the nymphs crawl out of their 269 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:10.960 the egg ness and the sun is the right ankle. 270 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.519 You can actually see these things drop like little little 271 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:19.440 flecks to the ground, and that's when they're extremely vulnerable. Spiders, ants, 272 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:22.120 ground beetles go after these things like crazy. So as 273 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:23.960 soon as they hit the ground, they've got to find 274 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:25.759 a crack in the soil, as usually a long a 275 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.360 blade of grass, and they get underground immediately as fast 276 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:28.799 as they can. 277 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:32.039 So, yes, eggs are laid in slits in tree twigs 278 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:35.120 and then they emerge and once on the ground, they 279 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:38.559 start looking for thirteen or seventeen year real estate. 280 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:42.240 And so they feed on grassroots for the first few weeks, 281 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:45.320 and then by New Year's Day they're ten to twelve 282 00:14:45.399 --> 00:14:48.399 inches below the surface, latched onto a tree root, sucking. 283 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:50.080 And I know it because on New Year's Day I 284 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:51.279 went out and dug up cicadas. 285 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:54.039 Really, so they've already latched on there. So do they 286 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:58.960 spend those cold winters just sucking up sugars from the 287 00:14:58.960 --> 00:14:59.519 tree roots? 288 00:14:59.559 --> 00:15:02.639 Well, yes, but although they're feeding on the xylum tissue 289 00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:07.039 and oh okay, and as you remember from biology, xylem 290 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.720 is the water conducting tissue that brings water and minerals 291 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:12.279 from the soil up to the leaves. The floam has 292 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:15.159 the sugars coming down, so they're feeding on this nutrient 293 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:18.759 poor fluid for the next seventeen years and not moving 294 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.639 probably more than a yard or a meter in any 295 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:22.840 direction during that time. 296 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:24.759 Got everything I need right here with me. 297 00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:27.720 It thought that the long life cycle might be a 298 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:32.120 response to their evolving and adapting to the ice ages. 299 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:34.759 Really yeah, okay, So tell me a little bit about 300 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.000 that and about these long life cycles and how they 301 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:39.440 know when to come out. 302 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:43.080 The life cycles. Well, there's two life cycles, seventeen years 303 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:47.279 and thirteen years, and they grow at different rates. One 304 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:49.799 of the differences between the thirteen and seven years cicadas 305 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:52.600 is that the thirteen year cicadas moult an extra time 306 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:56.080 within that first five years of life. Oh okay, and 307 00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:59.240 that triggers they're coming out four years early. But the 308 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:02.200 idea is that the thirteen year cicada has evolved south 309 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:03.960 of the glaciers, and if you look at the thirteen 310 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.799 year cicada distribution, they're mostly in the southern part of 311 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:10.279 the eastern United States. But then the seventeen year ciccadaes 312 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:12.120 are generally more north than that, although there are some 313 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:14.879 of that in eastern Oklahoma that get a little far south. 314 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:18.960 So Gene explained that cicadas are creatures of climate, evolving 315 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:24.039 and separating into different species and broods and groups relatively 316 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:28.279 recently in the last ice ages, adapting to ice sheets 317 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:31.480 and going further south and then advancing north again when 318 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:35.600 they receded, and the thirteen and seventeen year periodical cicadas 319 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:40.360 separated over the last three hundred thousand years, which geologically 320 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:43.960 speaking is pretty recently, and then further split into the 321 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:48.720 three thirteen year broods and twelve seventeen year broods. Can 322 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:52.360 I ask you questions from listeners, certainly, but before we 323 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:55.200 do a quick note about sponsors of the show. Because 324 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:58.000 of them, we can toss a cicada load of money 325 00:16:58.039 --> 00:17:00.320 at a worthy cause each week, and this week doctor 326 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:04.160 Kritsky requested it to go to Mount Saint Joseph's University 327 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:08.599 in Cincinnati, School of Behavioral and Natural Sciences, and Gene says, 328 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.559 you can designate it for cicada research. Our VP will 329 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:14.160 be shocked. So let's do that now. If you feel 330 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:16.039 like tossing a few bucks that way, there's going to 331 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:17.759 be a link in the show notes, and thank you 332 00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:21.200 to the following sponsors for allowing this podcast to donate. 333 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:26.359 Hi, I'm Stephen Ray, UNISEF ambassador. What's next on your 334 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:30.400 bucket list? Imagine adding something extraordinary to your list and 335 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:34.039 changing a child's life. Join me in leaving a gift 336 00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:37.160 in your will to UNISEF and help bring safe water, 337 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:42.640 education and hope to children across the world. Visit UNISEF 338 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:46.200 dot ie forward slash bucket to receive your free bucket 339 00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:50.079 list journal or call zero one eight seven eight three thousand. 340 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:51.079 Thank you. 341 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:55.240 Okay. Many patrons, such as first time question askers Molly 342 00:17:55.319 --> 00:17:58.119 Cousins and Alex Bowman, wanted to know how are they 343 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:01.079 better at time management than PA? Essentially, how do they 344 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:04.039 know when to come out? Is there a stage manager underground? 345 00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:07.039 What's happening? Do you have any idea to do? Scientists 346 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:10.680 know if there's something chemical that triggers that emergence, how 347 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:11.640 do they sense it. 348 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:15.000 We know that they can determine year passages by the 349 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:17.480 changes in fluid flow in the xylum. You know, when 350 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:19.079 the tree goes dorm it. There seems to be some 351 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:22.759 they can detect that leaf sets and flower sets can 352 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:25.039 trigger that because that you'll see more fluid flow. But 353 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:27.240 what we don't know is how do they remember what 354 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:27.920 year it is? 355 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:29.079 M hm. 356 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:31.599 We did have an event happened here in Cincinnati in 357 00:18:31.640 --> 00:18:34.440 two thousand and six. We had a December that reached 358 00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:38.400 seventy degrees and it continued into January, and the maple 359 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:41.279 tree in my backyard leafed out. I thought I was 360 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:44.039 opposes to me, this is January. Then we had a 361 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:46.839 hard freeze in February, all the leaves fell off. Come 362 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:50.599 the late March early April, the trees started leafing out again, 363 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:54.319 and in parts of Cincinnati where Breod fourteen was expected 364 00:18:54.359 --> 00:18:57.400 to come out the following year, they came out. So 365 00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:00.279 for those cicadas, they thought seventeen years had passed even 366 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:02.359 though they had two leaf sets that occurred in one year. 367 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.000 For more on how leaves come and go by the way, 368 00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:08.839 check out the Phonology episode. Also heads up to Hannah Noos, 369 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:11.400 I'm about to pronounce your name wrong and I am sorry. 370 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:15.519 And so this details into a question from several listeners, 371 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:19.759 A first time question asker David Oronoff, first timer hunter Elliott, 372 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:22.880 Hannah Newst, and Earl of Graymulkin all wanted to know, 373 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:26.039 in well, in Earl's words, not to be depressing, but 374 00:19:26.119 --> 00:19:30.480 to be depressing, how is climate change affecting cicadas? And 375 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:32.680 a hunter wanted to know could their hibernation cycles be 376 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:33.559 altered because of it? 377 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:35.400 That's one of these that we're looking into, and it 378 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:39.599 seems possible. As I mentioned, they are climate insects, if 379 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:43.200 you will. They emerged when the soil temperature reaches sixty 380 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:46.599 four degrees fahrenheit, and prior to nineteen fifty, the average 381 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:50.519 for Cincinnati was May twenty eighth, twenty ninth. Since nineteen fifty, 382 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:53.039 and in the last few years, they're now coming round 383 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:57.240 between the thirteenth and the sixteenth of May, so spring 384 00:19:57.319 --> 00:19:59.640 is now two weeks warmer than we were back in 385 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:02.519 the first half of the twentieth century. What that could do, 386 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:05.200 for example, if you had continuous like what happened in 387 00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:07.440 two thousand and six and two thousand and seven, if 388 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:09.880 you had a year event happened where there was like 389 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:13.000 trees that seemed to the cicada d if a two 390 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:16.240 year things had passed, they might molt in that first 391 00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:21.440 five years, which would trigger a four year early acceleration 392 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:24.480 and emerging off cycle. And that's actually happened in nineteen 393 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:27.960 ninety one. My students in my ecology and evolution classes 394 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:29.440 know that we would go out to the orchard at 395 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.880 the university and we'd dig up cicadatives to sort of 396 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:34.359 drive home the scientific method. I gave this wonderful paper 397 00:20:34.359 --> 00:20:37.359 written by Monte Lloyd and Joeanne White. It talked about 398 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:40.559 this between thirteen year scades of seventeen year cicadas, and 399 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:42.240 it said what stage of growth they should be at 400 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:45.160 each year. And I said, okay, what stage should they 401 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.000