It’s been 17 years
since the periodical cicadas “Brood X” appeared, and it looks like 2021 never
fails to surprise us, we could up for a witness of a very rare event. The
cicadas are back after a long hibernated hiatus.
The Significance
It was in the
mid-1600, when the residents of Massachusetts were terrified for the first time
when an inch long insect with glaring red eyes appeared from the cavities of
the earth, and too further make things confusing, they were trillions in
numbers.
Often from time to
time, people have mistaken cicadas for “locusts”, which is a completely
different species of insect commonly known for destroying crops on a large
scale. The recent cases in Easter Pakistan and Western India would quantify
that.
On the other hand,
cicadas which are periodic insects, that means they appear only once in 13 or
17 years, sit on trees, swarm around in herd of millions, often make cricketing
sound out of mating. But, bottom line, they’re largely harmless to humans, hence
one should put all their doubts to rest.
Once they’re done
with their periodic activities, they will disappear by monsoon, only to appear
back in 2034 or 2037 at earliest. As many people fear their appearance, as
humans are always afraid of things they don’t understand, they reality is
somewhat contradictory.
The most
interesting part is the concentration of cicadas, despite being facing hot climate
and consistent geography across the country, they only appear in few states
like Indiana, Massachusetts, Washington DC, and Kentucky. To someone who
resides in Oklahoma or New Mexico, it’s a total mystery, an alien entity.
Irrespective of
what the world says, entomologists across the country and borders speak very
highly of this phenomenon. They believe that if someone experiences this entire
activity once or more than once in their lifetime, it’s an absolute pleasure to
experience a mysterious wonder the nature has offer.
Integral Part of the Ecosystem
Those who
understand and acknowledge their presence, they know the significance of the
existence of cicadas, even though they unearth once in a while. If cicadas like
a particular geography, there could be millions of them present in less than 1
acre of land, all co-existing and mating peacefully.
There are more than
3000 species of cicadas that is known, but only 7 of them appear periodically.
There are many theories given by scientist and entomologist in the past about
their existence and everything, but these are mere speculation. Something or
the other always prove these theories wrong.
Neither they bite,
nor do they sting. They don’t even destroy crops or chase other species, which
makes it exception to the corresponding species. And above and all, when we
talk about maintaining the balance of ecosystem, they play a very important
role there as well.
Humans eat fish,
lion chases deer, big fish in digest small fish. All of this phenomenon happens
so that the balance of the ecosystem be maintained. As cicadas being thoroughly
an herbivores species, they act as meals themselves.
Many carnivores and
omnivores animals and birds have a high preference of cicadas for their meals.
As a natural tendency any species would avoid getting eaten by other species,
they often possess a distraction technique or safety measures, camouflages,
etc.
Interestingly,
cicadas don’t portray any such behavior, if they are near a predator, they will
be eaten, no matter what. Despite coming out after a decade and a half, getting
eaten in large numbers by numerous predators, their numbers don’t get
substantially affected.
Because there are
still plenty of cicadas present to mate among themselves and give birth to
offspring, which mysteriously balance out their losses.
If that wasn’t
enough, then over the period of time, the curiosity of humans have garnered
enough consumable entities to catch the eye of one and all. While one such
thing being the tacos made of cicadas.
During their
appearance, the tacos and soups made of cicadas are in very high demand, as
they are considered high in protein. In fact, many vendors often collect and
store them under refrigerated conditions for the future purposes when the
demands rise.
But, often
stereotypes hamper that. Once who are used to consuming cicadas often find it
very amusing, the one which is crunchy and melts inside the mouth from inside,
but the large chunk of American population still are disgusted by the idea of
in digesting an insect.
Not just in US, but
they are in very high demand in East-Asian countries like China, Japan, South
Korea, Philippines, etc. and the business constitute to hundreds of millions of
dollars.
For many centuries
Americans have found it fearful to be around, it’s high time that they
acknowledge their significance in this ecosystem. Humans don’t own this planet,
it’s shared by billions of species, the earlier we realize, the better it is
for us.
Edited by – Adrija Saha
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