The Insane Biology of: The Cicada

[@mohdrazif777]

I am from Malaysia. On February 2008, cicadas emerged in extremely large number and swarmed the town I was living. And they were super duper loud. One day I was walking on a bridge, then I heard their sound. The sound keeps getting louder and louder, then the flying cicada hit me in the face. The hit nearly made me lose balance. Some weeks later, they died in masses, and we had to sweep them for hours in many days because they were just too many. It was a unique experience for young me back then.

[@GiacomoCarali]

hi 'from Malaysia", I'm dad

[@LetsTalkAboutPrepping]

My favorite part of this is that you used the words super duper. I'm glad that's a universal phrase. Can you remember where you picked that up culturally, or is it a self apparent rhyme for the word super?

[@mohdrazif777]

@@LetsTalkAboutPrepping pretty sure my dad said that.

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

This reminds me when a Lucanus cervus [don't know it's English name and won't look it up] hit me on my forehead whole biking once. Luckily I was decelerating near a junction and he was OK. (I love them and also help them as I can, they are so cool and beautiful.)

[@Ankara_pharao]

​@@LetsTalkAboutPreppinghaha, in Russia there are "супер-пупер", pronunciate it like "super-pupper" with "u" like in "you", not like in "upper"

[@j-davis7290]

I love that their whole strategy is show up, get naked, be loud, and go back to sleep for over a decade. I aspire to be so free

[@Tisbeef]

Underrated comment😂😂

[@helloyes2288]

they die after fucking

[@murdock8068]

Oddly. I do the same thing..

[@rjcc7989]

The wolrd can change alot in 17 years. You risk having a parking lot built over you.

[@yoursexualizedgrandparents6929]

Go back to sleep? I think you mean go back to sleep forever.

[@katibarrett8779]

Born and raised in Arizona, which has cicadas every year. To me, their noise is the sound of summer. As a kid I would collect their husks. I thought they were beautiful.

[@victoriaeads6126]

I collected them as a kid, too, in Pennsylvania. I heard them every summer, too. There must be yearly cicadas even in the places where the broods emerge, because I didn't even learn about the brood emergence until the last decade or so. I live in Virginia now, so it should be pretty epic. The last big brood emergence was so loud that from my deck it sounded like a 747 waiting to take off...if I was standing on the runway. Most of them were at least 50 yards away, too.

[@user-et2dx5du7e]

same here in japan.there are several species too, the easiest to catch happened to be the ones most likely to piss in your hands

[@artemis7273]

Same here as well. I’m from virginia and I can only recall a few years i didn’t hear them at all during the summer

[@AxolotlFNOffical]

Born and raised in Louisiana and even I hear the cicadas EVERY night

[@Nefville]

In Kentucky we have cicadas every year. Its funny to me how every spring people act like its the first time a brood has emerged in a generation. Speaking of husks, who here used to hang them on your shirt? They are very good at sticking to things. Cool insect.

[@davey_wonder]

As a young kid 17 years ago I was enamored with these guys. I would go find them every night and bring them on my grandpas screen patio to emerge on his small potted trees and then in the morning I would come out to find them all patiently waiting with their old shells to be released. I remember one time when I was searching for nymphs and I stepped on one a tiny bit. I cried so much… I have been a cicada nerd my whole life, and to this day I still take walks every summer to search for those sleepy little nymphs that need help finding a comfy place to molt. These guys are so important to the world as we know it. Let’s all love and appreciate these little critters!! (Even though they can be obnoxious)

[@Eye2024-g9b]

@@davey_wonder lol, you would love one of my customers every year he goes to the bug conference. He's a bug nerd also

[@jimellis2118]

I'm in my 70s, in the 1970s I had been driving all day, intent on camping in east Tennessee where cicadas were everywhere. Went up a forestry road just after dark, too tired to find a quieter place. Point is, I lay on the ground on top a sleeping bag waiting for the noise to cease. I tried to understand why some of them were chirping in unison when finally they ALL chirped at the same instant. It was followed by profound silence for a few seconds. Freaked me out. They didn't repeat this .

[@TWHY-f2x]

Good story I’m actually frightened please tell me more stories of your travels good sir

[@rrai1999]

The sound of other male cicadas calling tends to cause them to make their call too. If you imitate the sound at one he might do it back! I've had this happen a few times

[@Tehvoodoo19]

spontaneous synchronicity

[@inou2222]

I live close to Knoxville and haven't seen any here yet.

[@oneidawolf776]

There is a story in my peoples oral history about how the onondaga nation of the haudenosaunee went through a famine. Their village and crops were burnt and they had no food the people were in turmoil. At this time the cicadas emerged and they ate cicadas for sustenance. To this day they are thankful to them for getting them through those hard times. They are important to us for giving us life when we may not have had it if we had not had their sustenance. (Edit: The Onondaga nation is in New York State close to Syracuse and in their language the word they use for cicada is " Ogweñ•yó'da' ")

[@Raven74947]

That's a cool story

[@Shmethan]

Thats awesome, thank you for sharing. Im glad that they made it through the famine

[@adreabrooks11]

Very interesting! I was just thinking of how many creatures eat them, despite the fact that they seem to have colouration similar to so many poisonous or venomous species. It made me wonder if they were edible by humans. I figure: if so many creatures like them, they can't be too bad! That said, I'll probably stick to fishing and eating the invasive weeds in my yard, and letting the cicadas have their fun.🙂

[@ooooneeee]

That's amazing ❤.

[@MrSirlulzalot]

Awesome story 👏 🙌! ❤

[@stormyskyz4251]

My daughter saved an injured one a couple years ago (she was 7). She fell in love with that silly thing. Rip Robby, best cicada ever

[@sksks-f6x]

Rip Robby☹️☹️

[@exoplanet11]

When she is 20, Robby's children will emerge. (or perhaps 24)

[@edmartin875]

@@exoplanet11 You are one sick puppy.

[@Ken-fh4jc]

That’s adorable

[@SonoftheWars]

To Robby!

[@ajrodriguez1043]

Short story time: I grew up in Illinois and one spring when I was 9, I claimed a cicada attacked me. After sundown, one cicada kept flying around my head, smacking into me, and falling on the floor just to fly right back up at me. Other thing was it's abdomen was missing, and at 9 years old this scared me shitless. After watching this, I now realize I wasn't attacked, I was just hit by a bug doing shrooms and flying.

[@LuhJ.T]

Off shrooms is crazy 😭🤣🤣🤣

[@NewYoutuber1111]

I’m here in Edwardsville right now my back yard it’s 2 trees and they are everywhere loud

[@nisaabrookz]

That zombie fungus makes the abdomen go missing I think

[@Dr.Snooze-gt5yg]

The circadia was going you would see it and step on them and put them out of their pain instantly since they didn't have a way to escape the pain they were born into I once took out a pair of suici.dal birds on a road that waited for me in my lane and flew up right before into the front of my car Irony... that's why Mars

[@ghostdoodles]

What a nightmare, a stoned bug, lol!

[@Just1Nora]

I saw the best bumper sticker! It says, "Y'all mind if I scream a bit?" With a picture of a cicada on it. As someone in the southeast USA, deep in cicada territory, I love it. Signs of the season change are when you see holes burst through the leaf litter, cicada nymph shells EVERYWHERE, and finally the screaming intensifying at dusk. As much as their chirps drive me nuts, it wouldn't feel like summer without them. I prefer the sound of the toads and tree frogs singing at night after a summer rain, though.

[@regalthelion]

I'm from Chicago, where we're getting our 17 year cicadas this year. We had some come out in 2020, 4 years early. Can't wait to see how many we get this year. It's gonna be awesome.

[@mikebarushok5361]

Chicago cicadas are one of my earliest memories. 63 years ago.

[@MeganMingler]

I’m from Chicago too. Their sound makes me happy as it brings me back to childhood in the 70’s ❤

[@AllHailNumo]

It was quite the experience this time around. 😂 Last time they came out I was a kid and still don't remember them being as bad as this year

[@GeryonM]

Also from Chicago, and it doesn't feel like summer without the call of the cicadas. Was there for cicadageddon and it was odd to hear the different calls. Live in Oklahoma now and had to wait until the end of July for them to emerge. We only have the annual ones here and it sounds a bit empty this year.

[@snickersmyknickers5120]

Those poor cicadas who woke up on the 16th year probably felt like the most loneliest bunch in the world.

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

I bet they had a server case of existential crysis. Poor fellas.

[@realscience]

like when you wake up at a sleepover before everyone else and have to awkwardly wait around for all your friends to wake up but this time its for a whole year and also you are a bug

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

@@realscience ... And you have no chance of living that long, which makes it worse.

[@realscience]

@@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x definitely makes it more awkward

[@henryzhang7873]

@@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x cryosleepover

[@ziksecure]

It's so refreshing to see nature documentaries that are informative, straight to the point, and not flooded with forced suspense. Instant subscribe.😊

[@truthsRsung]

Forced Suspense? Like "Insane" in the Title of a uTube video? Right. Don't you think we should reserve that term for People having a tough time with Reality?

[@malrec]

Yeah way better than that anta canada charlatan.

[@bj6515]

Plus informative. According to Stormy, Cicada sex lasts 58 minutes longer than Little Donny can manage.

[@kevinmedeiros3535]

Same

[@malrec]

@@bj6515 Which is 59 minutes and 59 seconds longer than you can last according to your daughter.

[@PortRhouse]

That fungus segment is one of the craziest things I have ever heard in my life. Zombie cicadas tripping balls. What a world we live in.

[@anhenry2998]

Ok it wasnt just me hahaha

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

Take some to your local college and get "some dude" to synthesize the PA molecule.

[@modoc852]

I’ve been smoking cicada asses all my life and dining on the healthy females uncooked like my elders taught us, no mystery here.

[@larrytate1657]

They most likely lack the brain receptors to get the tripping effect. Even some animals lack enough receptors to trip.

[@outdoorfr3ak]

lol have you been to the cities recently?? You're describing modern homeless

[@Radhaun]

I actually love cicada songs. There is one song in particular that I really associate with safety and home. It helped keep me from feeling homesick when I studied abroad. These can definitely be terrifying when they're in your house, but I am truly stoked to not only live when the double emergence happens, but to be in an area where it's happening!

[@Brenda-t5r]

I just love cicadas! They are the sound of summer. I grew up listening to them on my grand- parents' ranch. They had an out- door patio with a metal table and chairs on it. This patio was near oak trees. I would sit on the patio and listen to the cicadas sing in unison. Interesting video. 👍🏼

[@notfittobeking]

Loved the shout-out to Dr. Chris Maier!! I worked as a summer research assistant next to his laboratory at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. He identified a couple flies for me. I was always blown away by his vast knowledge of many types of insects. One of the coolest entomologists I have had the pleasure of knowing even if briefly.

[@realscience]

That is awesome!

[@MrsBrit1]

I got married during the 17 years emergence. We had an outdoor wedding. 😂 I couldn't have planned that better, tbh, because I love the little dumb dumbs! They're awesome!

[@Pseedholm]

Was it in Massachusetts? I was at an outdoor wedding the same day 😂

[@mrjoe332]

You gotta renew your vows in the same manner, just so everyone can suffer again.

[@OOOOOO-dx7zu]

@@Pseedholm maybe you got married to each other

[@forgottensage-o5o]

Yeah but don't they bite? I was always told (in Missouri) that they have a nasty bit.

[@maxgucciardi4507]

​@@forgottensage-o5o they dont have mouths. They come out for a few days so they can mate and then they all die.

[@georgejones5019]

Cicadas are certainly one of the more interesting insects. Partly because they're so elusive, which makes studying them difficult. Also one of my favorite bug poke'mon.

[@SplitZeroOne]

for me, they are second, after the dragon fly

[@Brambrew]

Nincada, Ninjask and Shedinja Very cool 'mons indeed

[@sephikong8323]

​@Brambrew Also despite it's name, I really think Kriketune looks a LOT closer to a Cicada than to a cricket

[@willverschneider1102]

I used Ninjask in my Omega Ruby playthrough. A very underrated pokemon who could outspeed and OHKO the Delta Episode Deoxys if you're not careful.

[@blacklightretro]

thats weird, i can catch as many as i want, during "molt time" when they come up from the ground to shed their skins and gain their wings, that's the best time to collect. you wait till the wings pump out and dry, and they are done being upside down, etc. it's about patience and dedication, my friend.

[@user-vk7cp1op9p]

The sound of cicadas for me, is the sound of Sallisaw, Oklahoma in the summer, announcing it's hot today, and the day, short, and hurry to seize the day, before it's gone!

[@pawpkitty]

I had these emerge a couple times when I was a kid and I honestly think of them fondly. They are great fishing bait, their song reminds me of blistering summer days. They are an abundant food source for so many animals.

[@joseherrera8208]

Its gonna be a loud time this June! 🤘🏼

[@pype720]

This is the most comprehensive video I've seen about cicadas. It connects everything and I particularly like the references to the scientific studies for how they've figured this out. Very well sequenced, explained and dense for a packed 20 minutes with everything you'd want to know. I also really appreciated the breakdown of the species.

[@slamrock17]

I once went fishing but forgot bait. Good thing it was a cicada year. I had enough bait for all day on one little bush.

[@granpastrange]

I'll have to keep this in mind

[@ClickDecision]

find a hobby that doesn't involve stabbing fish in the face

[@eauneau]

😂

[@IrieRogue]

Toes work equally well 👍

[@dawoof5119]

i caught a bunch in my yard the last few days im saving them 4 bait!

[@ApolloniusPavor]

Cicadas get a bad rap. Think about how many great summer memories you had with the cicadas providing background music.

[@dannyfar7989]

Sleeples noisy nights only are fun if you don't want to sleep

[@PunxsutawneyPhill]

@@dannyfar7989 That sound used to help me sleep, before AC and closed windows.

[@dannyfar7989]

@@PunxsutawneyPhill Cicadasound is quite intense in character and amount. All intense things can be liked but are hard to bear when unwanted. You can take this examole as a Metaphor: I find it pleasant to snack carolina Repaer chillis, I also don't wonder why others don't. You like the sound of cicadas and hopefully don't wonder now why others don't. Hot Chillis having the rep of beeing unpleasant and Carolina reaper not beeing edible for many doesn't mean it has a bad rep, it means it has a realistic rep. I see Cicadas noise very similar to that but im contrast to chillis they are forced upon people who are very sensitive to them.

[@dickottel]

I don't think we have those where I live but we have other loud insects at night and I'm not a big fan... I don't like insects 😜

[@narcissisticweb2119]

13.15 I live in a hot country under pine trees. So when they start, you can't hear yourself speak, but I ❤️ the sound so much that it does not bother me. When October comes and they stop, I have to put an old fan on, for the noise because I can't fall asleep without my cicadas choir. 😂

[@TheraP2014]

I love cicadas and the sounds they make. Crickets too. I caught a cicada on my Silver Queen plant. I captured it, walked a quarter mile away, then released it. It flew right back to my Silver Queen plant. I still keep the photo of that cicada since 2008. I think I'll post it on my community tab😊

[@leosorghum6867]

It's not summer 'til the cicada sings

[@JWimpy]

Yeah, kind of like Ball Park Franks. I loved hearing these every summer growing up in Texas.

[@oddoneout1835]

Out early this year.

[@tredd4997]

​@oddoneout1835 those are periodical cicadas. Late summer cicadas are green/gray

[@vxy357]

That's a good way of putting it.

[@adisonnanet]

Just here to praise you for putting the temperatures both in Celsius and in Fahrenheit.

[@SplitZeroOne]

we should all switch to kelvin

[@luluobifish]

fahrenheit forever❤️

[@Kepora1]

You mean incorrect and correct.

[@SpecialEDy]

0° to 100° the temperature range for humans if you use Fahrenheit. Celsius is just an arbitrary system for water, basically irrelevant.

[@Kepora1]

@@SpecialEDy Celsius is what Europeans use. And Europe is fancy speak for "Incorrect".

[@SeanA099]

I’m from Virginia and I’ve been fascinated by the 17 year cicadas since I first saw them in 2004. I got to see them again in 2021, and they were absolutely everywhere. I literally had to rake them off our front porch and lawn because they covered everything. I can’t wait to see them again

[@YoTratoYTrato]

Wow, such an excellent job with this documentary, so studied and well done! Great job! Subscribed!😊

[@brianwright9514]

The noise is wild. The male song was expected, but the constant "whirr" that they make up in the trees is completely new to me.

[@luckycoulon1417]

While very informative, this video does have a few inaccuracies. First off cicadas do not drink xylem, xylem isn’t a liquid but rather one of the tissues plants use to transport liquids within them. They’re like little tubes running up the length of a plant. The cicadas use their specialized mouth parts to pierce the xylem and drink from it. Also, while cicadas do have a unique method of making sound, they claim all crickets and katydids produce sound by rubbing their back legs together when in fact both of these animals rub their wings together to produce sound, no legs involved! Grasshoppers on the other hand do use their legs, but don’t rub them together, instead rubbing each leg against a special part of their wings

[@luckycoulon1417]

The video is otherwise very cool and filled with great information! Thank you for organizing all of this so succinctly

[@hellzshotgun]

​@luckycoulon1417 How do you know so much? I'm just curious.

[@billkissick6268]

Came here to say the same re:sounds. 21:09 literally shows sound being made by rubbing wings together, not legs, as she says "legs only." Otherwise, very cool vid.

[@skeeter197140]

And the fact that she says Brood 8, when the map key shows Brood XIII or 13 (4:54).

[@A-xv5fb]

What are you talking bout I'm drinking some phloem right now 😂

[@DaddyWarlocks]

Houstonian here. I love cicadas. I love the sound, I think they look and live so neat, and I always figured such a weird bug had to be good for it's environment. S tier insect.

[@Antymatters]

Thats damm impressive 17 years. Very few insects can even dream of getting to that ripe old age, wonder if it has similar internal mechanisms ants use to extend lifespan

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

Yep but they aren't doing that much. So if I want to get philosophical, do they really live? A vagabond world traveling freedom fighter lover poet that dies at 30 in his tenth war lives much longer and fuller life than a couch potato living in his parents' basement all his life that dies at 65, not less. Sorry for the tangent. 😅

[@Shmethan]

​@@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x no thats a good point. Conversely, as bugs, what's the measure of them "living" more or less. Theyre accomplishing their evolutionary goal of growing and reproducing, even if it takes 17 years of living in a hole. Maybe they reach nervana in a meditative state down there

[@johnfox69]

@@Shmethan Nah. They reach nirvana when they are in the fungal infected sex crazed zombie state.

[@truthsRsung]

​@@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x ... No Species lives Tangent to a Warring one for long. Leave it to the ones who grow up in their parent's library to write down "harmony" and "eradicate" in the same Legal Document (Russian Thistle) moments in history before they saved the cattle industry in the Dust Bowl. It's those Potatoes that come up with such silly ideas that people think are worth dieing for, rather than living for.

[@43adsfa3qlaw]

Nice video. Around the 12:30 mark could mention the significance of prime number emergence (13, 17) as this stops predators from adapting life cycles that will match their emergence.

[@angela8351]

Unbelievable!!!! I remember being intrigued by these when I was a child. It was always special to find one, even an empty shell. So magical and mysterious.

[@jteach9124]

The amount of time and energy put into this video is very very evident. Respect

[@lofimiata]

What no video does justice is the sound. When they chorus in the thousands it is truly awe inspiring and alien. They sound NOTHING like annual cicadas.

[@extragoogleaccount6061]

Definitely sounds like an alien invasion. Something slightly metallic about it too

[@gem53leo]

It sounds like the ocean to me.

[@stax6092]

Man, an ovapositor made of metal hardened enough to dig into wood? That's so great, someone has to include something like that into a sci-fi somewhere.

[@balsalmalberto8086]

Pretty insane they are like wolverine in the bug world

[@FlameWaffle]

Kinda starship troopers' brain bug

[@shavoshaco2402]

This is a very well done science video, the only thing I remember about cicadas was them swarming chicago in 2007, but ur video got me understanding them on a whole new level thanks for the quality post

[@rrai1999]

In Georgia, there are still a very small handful of them out right now. Brood XIX of the 13 year 'Magicicada tredecim' or "Riley's 13 year Cicada" just emerged in massive numbers. I was doing some work outside digging rows for some crops in a field surrounded by forest on all sides and my God. I learned to wear white when outside, and even that doesn't stop them from thinking you're a tree. The little dudes just want a place to land or a snack and don't understand that you are a living thing and so just land on you and crash into you over and over. They're adorable.

[@tontj]

Here in Japan. We only have yearly Cicadas and they are LOUD. But they are harmless insect and just like the video mentioned, they are a good nutrienta for the ecosystem

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

And their sound is s crucial part of every live action or anime Japanese movie and series set in the summer. I think it would run my immersion if I wasn't hearing that sound. 😁

[@Shmethan]

​@@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x that sound is absolutely attached to evangelion in my head 😅 even if I hear them in real life regularly

[@kitony]

Agreed, taped them sometime back in Nagoya. I noticed though that the same cicada make different calls! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGindqFuf72Jl6ssi=xEwF1yDDh-NeY0XT

[@wisdomleader85]

Interesting. I heard if you put 3301 cicadas together, they would form a set of puzzles.

[@Sepi-chu_loves_moths]

I'm certain this is a reference of some sort but I'm not sure what

[@restlesssheep2453]

@@Sepi-chu_loves_moths A series of puzzles originating in 4chan.

[@isaacmccarty1564]

Underrated lmao

[@williamowens2063]

@@Sepi-chu_loves_moths It's some puzzle a company put on 4chan.

[@zarynt1089]

The result also forms a new SCP.

[@victoriaeads6126]

As a kid, I always wondered what creature left those weird husks clinging to every vertical surface in spring. I heard the cicadas, but I didn't associate the two phenomena until I was a bit older.

[@mikewazowski350]

As a child, i grew up in Florida, in a house with no AC. At night, these cicadas put me to sleep. In fact, it has become white noise to me.

[@StartouchArts]

I live at the absolute FARTHEST north section in Wisconsin where Brood XIII will emerge, but I still hope I get to hear the noisy gits a lot, I have this weird love for the sound they make, it makes me feel nostalgic.

[@JaJa-ms7ex]

Hey, plant biologist here. I love your videos andI've been following your channel for a long time now, I was there for some of your very early videos. I think you do amazing work! This is my first comment under one of your videos and I feel kinda bad that I wanted to leave it just to correct you. So firstly I want to say that your videos are one of the best (if not the best) among those that deal with biology. Anyway I think there is something wrong with the way you use the terms xylem and phloem. They describe the tissues that transport water and chemicals from either roots or shoots. But as far as I know, those terms are not used to describe the liquid themselves. And I know that some tissues can have a liquid form, like blood, but the difference here boils down to composition - blood contains living cells while liquids in phloem and xylem don't. That said, English is not my native language. But I've read some scientific papers on plants and I've never seen anyone use the terms xylem and phloem to describe anything else than vascular tissues. But maybe im just nitpisking, botany terms are sometimes convoluted and this little mistake doesn't change how great is this video :D

[@greatone6196]

You are completely correct about xylem and phloem not being the fluids. It's like blood vs blood vessels

[@khaibutton]

Yes, they are both called sap, but the one that flows through the xylem is xylem sap and the sap that flows through the phloem is phloem sap.

[@toonasag]

As a botany student, I wa thinking about that too.

[@notmegan8799]

i came to the comments to see if anyone else pointed this out!

[@鷲尾桃]

Yes, I totally agree! I'm just an A-level Biology student but I thought it was a little off.

[@victoriaeads6126]

I grew up in SE Pennsylvania, and it seemed like we listened to cicadas every summer. I didn't realize the brood concentrations happened until perhaps the last decade. The brood emergence is VERY VERY loud, but they are interesting little creatures, and harmless.

[@marymcmahan5603]

The last time they emerged, I had to walk from my back door to my car(10 feet away) carrying an umbrella. I could hear them hitting the umbrella.

[@tomsparks6099]

Hey neighbor! (also in SE PA) -- there was a bad car wreck in Nockamixon park in 2021 where the cicadas were so bad. I think the girl lost control of her car when one of them flew into her car window making her lose control.

[@nicoa4094]

Hey @realscience, keep up the interesting videos. I just wanted to let you know a little error in the video. At 1:26 and several times after 9:22 you mentioned that cicadas feed on xylem, which you call the liquid/fluid from tree roots. However, xylem is actually a type of vascular tissue in the roots, stem, and leaves of vascular plants that mainly transport water and nutrients from the soil to different parts of the plants. So, technically, cicadas feed on the xylem fluid/sap from the tree's roots not on the xylem itself. Similarly, phloem is also a vascular tissue that transports phloem fluid/sap. Hope this helps, cheers!

[@IndyJay53]

I was also confused by that and thought I was taught something wrong in school.

[@WILD360_]

Nice Work 🎉 Keep it Up

[@cloud101787]

Grew up in the the NW Fl panhandle and I loved collecting their shed skin lol.

[@Taricus]

All the ones in my neighborhood are M. Septemdecula. They are loud, but the rising and falling in unison is almost soothing. It also feels nostalgic to hear, because the last time you heard it was 17 years ago and it brings back nice memories of warm springs and summers ☺ Right now I am 44, so the last time it sounded like this, I was 27.... Back then, I was young and had a black lab/german shephard mix that has since passed from old age. It reminds me of when we would play in the kiddy pool that I bought him, rides in the car on cool nights after playing in the sun all day, and playing video games all night until the roosters started crowing in the morning. I wonder if the cicadas are the reason some of my friends are talking about how they wish they could go back to those days lately. Maybe it's almost subliminal, because the sounds of the cicadas remind us all of back then.

[@jackbeckley5513]

I have seen them both with a W and a P in their wing they were so bad you didn't dare try to rototiller your garden when the roadside Parks had water pump drinking fountain they were full of them all the ducks and geese you can hear it where they eating them

[@Taricus]

@@jackbeckley5513 I have a bunch in the stairwell in my apt complex and behind my couch under a window. I have to keep clearing them out. They also get in my kitchen window and die in my sink LOL!

[@fractode]

Excellent video, well-produced, with great voiceover. Thanks!

[@erenyaeger5]

You're videos are very informative. Makes me learn so much. Thank you so much❤️❤️❤️

[@ProfPoindexter1968]

I was stationed on Okinawa in 1970, when the cicadas emerged. I lived just off the end of the main runway of Kadena Air Force Base. That year, there were two SR-71 planes stationed there. When they took off, we couldn't hear anything. But we had a tree full of cicadas just outside our window. When they got going, they drowned out the SR-71s!

[@philippedefechereux8740]

Very well done with nice tinge of humor. Thank you.

[@michaelj.beglinjr.2804]

Interesting + educational = worth watching, so thank you for posting this.

[@KimFareseed]

What? Nincada is evolving!

[@urhmelan7137]

Thank you for covering may favorite insect

[@Neloish]

Also my favorite food.

[@urhmelan7137]

@@Neloish btw does enyone know any guides for Europe

[@Ncryptiion]

@@Neloish nom nom nom. I love them fried with rice 🙂‍↔️

[@gd_thirtyfour]

may😅 the 4th be with you

[@TheRealNathanBusch]

They make great fishing bait

[@ScientificDream-98]

Amazing content! Love the part at 2:15. Keep it up

[@PlainBlueFolders]

This was a perfect video for me! I honestly thought they were pests, but I loved seeing them around, especially cause I love how their carcasses looked. So knowing that they are also great for the environment and don’t spread any diseases was a delight to learn!

[@inmydarkesthour2278]

Cicada sounds when summer comes always brings me huge nostalgia of summers when I was young in Italy 😞💔

[@hhollo0127]

Very cool video! constructive criticism: make sure to double check the definitions of terms you use in the video, xylem is not a liquid and phloem is not sap, xylem and phloem are the tissues that conduct those liquids, it'd be like calling a person's vessels/arteries their blood

[@JeremyDahl]

Very kind response! 🫡

[@FutureAIDev2015]

I strongly prefer Patreon plugs over ads! 😊

[@realscience]

Same - This is an experiment to see if plugging our own Patreon can replace sponsorships sometimes. It would sure be nice. Time will tell if the economics of it make sense!

[@FutureAIDev2015]

@@realscience I guess the question then becomes, based on what someone told me on Reddit, sure that solves the issue with funding creators, at least partially if not fully, but does that solve the problem with funding the platform itself? If not, how would that be potentially solved?

[@Hawgfrog]

I love these little little guys. I love the sounds they make, and they are the best live bait ever. Cant wait to see them again in 10 years or so.

[@dillipphunbar7924]

Gr8 episode. I saw my first cicada shell in the mid 70s in Queensland Australia. Me and my friends were amazed and made up a story that we found an alien because the remnant was so bizarre to us. Thankyou for your excellent video.

[@AquazWild]

May I ask where do you get these beautiful clips? Keep up the great work!!

[@sabuhiasadli6083]

Thank you for your educational videos, keep it coming 👍

[@darkcornholio]

I think the most interesting part of this video was finding out that squirrels are apparently omnivores.

[@genericname2747]

The interesting thing about nature is that no animal is strictly carnivorous or herbivorous. Many farmers have seen horses and cows eat baby chickens, and crocodiles like fruit.

[@C0yf1sh]

I said to myself “so that’s how mammals survived after the dinosaur killing meteor” they probably ate those big ass bugs and each-other! 😅

[@RealGrandpaBullFrog]

Wow

[@brad238899]

There are many herbivores that much on meat here and there. Scientists have found that deer will sometimes eat baby birds out of their nests. Horses have been known to eat chicks as well.

[@megabigblur]

For an undergrad ecology course we put up camera traps with fake nests and commercially purchased zebra finch eggs to simulate songbird nests, the only thing we caught on camera actually eating the eggs was a deer.

[@MountainMan1478-2]

At nearly 57 years of age i am just now rediscovering my love of entomology that began when i was in elementary school after joining the 4-H Club This video was in my suggested viewing on the KZbin Home Page and i will be subscribing as soon as i post this comment 🙂

[@oatmealxyz]

The sounds of cicadas is very nostalgic for me, i love hearing them here in northern Michigan

[@Frizzank15]

First time one flew into my house I thought it was a bird! I'm in Massachusetts, don't see them very often!😮

[@greatone6196]

Xylem isnt the fluid. The fluid is transported in the xylem

[@channelfour6098]

So what is the xylem?

[@someOneInComments]

Xylem is a fluid... It's basically anything water soluble..

[@DarkSky2084]

very informative, thanks for the video. I'm in mid Missouri and I'm exited watching them come out of the ground :)

[@kal2598]

These are one of my very favorite animals, and I learned an incredible amount from this video. Thank you for this!

[@s.marcus3669]

We have a local woman who has two college degrees and owns a business but she's a huge airhead. She calls cicadas: "quesadillas".

[@NewMessage]

Gettin' some and then spending a few weeks screaming at the sky, waiting for death to take me? Hunh. Turns out I do have a 'spirit animal' after all.

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

Nice video overall. Between the eclipse and this monster cicada invasion, you North Americans are spoiled, not to mention the two Godzilla movies close together. However. At 13:35 you said crickets and katydids stridulate by rubbing their back legs together, but in reality, in crickets and katydids a file on one wing is rubbed by a scraper on the other wing to produce the 'chirp'. That's a bummer. You make a couple of mistakes in all your videos recently, and usually you mix obvious and widely known facts. It only annoyed me because the rest is so well put together and your narration (which is very nice from the beginning) is improving. (It also irritated me in kindergarten when another kid said they used they legs. Or they mixed them and grasshoppers.)

[@xxQuimoxx-bn2lh]

Birds are gone be fat and healthy this year

[@jennyanydots2389]

Birds are garbage animals. Too bad they didn't go extinct with the other stupid dinosaurs.

[@xxQuimoxx-bn2lh]

I’m in Lake Geneva Wisconsin, there are so many of them all over, they sound like a siren outside

[@jennyanydots2389]

Lake Geneva is a pit of despair that smells like shit 24 days out of the year.

[@xxQuimoxx-bn2lh]

@@jennyanydots2389 omg 😱 Lake Geneva is beautiful 🏖️

[@jennyanydots2389]

@@xxQuimoxx-bn2lh There is a lovely observatory there. Also... it's full of stray dawgs and meth addicts.

[@ilanay]

Thank you for the fascinating video, nature and evolution is awe-inspiringly bewildering.

[@joeharris3878]

They were called "locusts" when we were kids.

[@Bobanator23]

Those are entirely different animals buddy

[@joeharris3878]

@@Bobanator23 Oh? Really? Thanks, ever so much.

[@Bobanator23]

@@joeharris3878 no problem, cicadas don’t eat anything before dying but locusts eat a lot of stuff

[@WhatsTruth_WOL]

Yeah who ever called them locusts was wrong. Sorry you were lied to

[@WhatsTruth_WOL]

It is important to differentiate cicadas from locusts since they are two very different groups of insects. While locusts look like grasshoppers and are ravenous consumers of plants, cicadas are much different in the amounts and parts of plants they feed upon.

[@MTHead587]

I love them you hear them during summer it feels like there are more calling during really hot days it’s a comfort sound for me 😊 especially now as I’m living in up state NY hearing them here is not often and when I do it reminds me of my home growing up in Missouri

[@ferociousgumby]

We used to collect cicada shells from tree bark when I was a kid in the 1960s. The hissing arc of the cicada song was all part of summer in southwestern Ontario. People who weren't familiar with the sound would be quite freaked out and couldn't believe it was made by an insect. It was an unexpectedly tropical sound in a place where we'd get three feet of snow in the winter.

[@JaxMcCool-re7lo]

Insane biology of the whale shark would be amazing!!!

[@brycebowman3414]

They are in the southwest as well. In Arizona they are found in great numbers every summer. Every 5-8 years they emerge in extreme amounts with hundreds of shells covering every surface. The sound is deafening, so much so that after experiencing it on off years the sound can go unnoticed.

[@rbrock00]

I grew up with the cicadas in eastern Nebraska, and came to love their droning. For some reason, however, we had cicadas every year, not every 17 or 13 years.

[@mea2429]

as I understand it, they're on 17 and 13 year cycles, but there's enough broods that the cycles are staggered. so if one 17 year cicada brood comes out in 2023, a different brood will come out in 2024. I grew up in southern IL and experienced them every year too!

[@thequestion210]

I appreciate you using the word "maybe" when discussing theories. More scientists would benefit from this practice.

[@haunterbby]

I live in STL and this has been one of the most amazing seasons ever! Also, this info is amazing!! 🖤

[@andymarais3014]

True story. I’m in South Africa. While watching this clip, a cicada flew into my kitchen door and landed on the window sill. They are all over my yard right now. I have their shells attached to my house. What a coincidence that this happened while I was watching this clip.😮 love it.

[@duartesimoes508]

I'm 59, live in Portugal and only saw Cicadas twice in my life, although I hear them loud and clear every Summer. They always tend to stay high on the tree tops. The Portuguese ones have huge black eyes and when resting still on a tree they look absolutely like tree bark, invisible from one meter. The second time, I took a great, sharp picture of one with my phone and used to tease my friends with it: "What do you see here?" "A tree trunk." "What else? "Nothing else, just a tree trunk" Then I magnified the picture and they always became ecstatic. "What's that?!" "a Cicada" "They look like this?! Wow!" 😱😱

[@stringlarson1247]

They are really blooming in Chicago now. I live in a very wooded area, and the sound is starting to get epic. The sun just came out and they are popping up from the ground and flying around. So, amazing.

[@ethantrevor6818]

Drove through a swarm on the highway last night sounded like I was on a paintball range

[@SeanCooke-gm3pw]

I LOVE cicadas! I'm in Illinois. One day when I was in high school, going to an early class during cicada season, the wind blew while I was passing a bush and a whole crap load of cicadas got blown all over me lol literally the only negative experience I've had with them! I freaked out screaming at the top of my lungs! But they are one of the few insects im legit fond of. I go out of my way to move them out of places they can be stepped on or injured. They don't bite and frankly, despite being someone who values quiet, I really like when they sing. To me, the most annoying thing is, because I really like them I have to be extra aware during their season so I don't step on or hurt them.

[@svetlanadelight8969]

What an awesome video, I have leaned a lot from you 🥰🥰🥰, Cicadas are so adorable :)

[@penneymoore6220]

Thank you for this video! Periodic cicada is one of my favorite animals.

[@SkylerB17]

im 29, and i remember the first time in my lifetime that a brood emerged, living in PA we had a 17 year brood. I was freaked out at first but then a friend of mine picked one up and let it crawl around on him. After that i started doing the same. Ever since then ive been very fascinated by these weird little creatures.

[@anniecouture3339]

Wow! Really loved this! Thank you!

[@teeeej11]

I’ve always wondered why when I was growing up in Chicago, I experienced the 17 year cicada, but then when I moved to Florida, I thought I was crazy when everyone was claiming they came out every 13 years. This video finally made it make sense for me. 👍🏾

[@robrich8294]

They are amazing insects !! Love listening to them. Amazing to be able to stay 13-17 yrs in the ground feeding off the xylem. Amazing that when in the ground temperatures and how to keep track of time.

[@marjorieinverts]

Here in the states in Middle Tennessee, out in the country, they have been CRAZY. I work at home and could hear them through my window in the house out in the bradford pear trees in the front of our house. It was DEAFENING. I park my car under these trees and their pee was even inside my car lol but I love them so much!!! They're the coolest and every time it's time for them, here, I get excited. Wonderful little creatures!