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| Wikipedia pic |
“Cicadas are coming! Cicadas are coming!” Hmmmm. . . .
That doesn’t sound as scary as “The British are coming!” does it? But with or without Brits, we’re bound
to get to know cicadas this summer. And hear them – by the billions!
“Brood X” will emerge any time now after 17 years in
waiting, and they’re desperately in love.
To attract mates, the cicadas will climb trees and make a big racket –
some calls can reach more than 100 decibels.
Each.
Their ardor, and noise, will continue for up to six weeks, till
they mate and lay eggs that hatch into nymphs who then burrow back into the
ground for another 17 years. That’s it.
Cicadas don’t bite, sting or damage fields or gardens. They’re not interested in humans or food —
just starting “families.” In fact, they
themselves serve as food for foxes, birds and raccoons.
Once the soil temperature is warm enough for them, Brood X
will appear in 15 states and DC, including NJ and our neighbors. Most active between 10 am-5pm, cicadas might
accidentally land on people en route to a would-be rendezvous. Not to worry: they want to move on at least
as much as we want them to.
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| Chicago Sun Times pic |
Where were you 17 years ago when we had our last Brood X
visit? I still vividly remember walking
into The Princeton Packet building one day when its black-topped
entryway was covered with cicadas, like a very bumpy, crunchy rug – that’s how
thick they were.
Take heart: the cicadas are expected to be gone by July
4, appropriately enough, Independence Day!
After that, fans of the red-eyed insects will have to wait till 2038 for
another visit.
The website below includes info, photos and a great video that
prompts what I’ll call “cicada empathy” – it’s sad! https://tinyurl.com/264shykk
More on elephants
From small insects to the largest land mammal, here’s a look
back at elephant news from the April 24 Wildlife Conservation Expo. Save the Elephants (STE) reported that in
Tsavo (northern Kenya), poachers are no longer the main problem elephants face.
Instead, it’s elephant-human conflicts stemming from in farming
and development. Elephants break into people’s mud huts as well as their crop
fields, sometimes causing local people to retaliate.
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| African elephants |
To protect elephants from angry locals — “to ensure that
elephants have a future on our planet,” as The Elephant Crisis Fund (an
offshoot of STE) has it – beehive fences are being used to deter bee-fearing
elephants. A smelly elephant repellent
is in play, as are elephant watch towers and growing chiles, sunflowers and
sisal to keep them away from huts and fields.
In other news, forest elephants have only recently been determined
to be a different species, genetically different from savanna elephants They have smaller bodies, rounder ears and
straighter tusks.
And they are critically endangered, just one step from extinction
in the wild. Sadly, it will be harder to
save forest elephants because they wait longer to reproduce (6 years) and many
of them live outside protected areas, making them more vulnerable to
poachers.
It’s obvious that conservation efforts for elephants everywhere must expand and continue. https://tinyurl.com/yysd5uhu
Please care for our bears!
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| APLNJ.org |
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