Life in Illinois These days are characterized by a noise: unusually loud cicada songs. In some areas you'll struggle to hear anything else outside. A 47-year-old American said South German newspaper For example, during his camping holiday he … Middle Fork River Forest Preserve He no longer listens to his radio because the bugs are so loud.
Some people hate them, others are attracted to them
Many people in the area are panicking about the insects and some are not leaving their homes. Small animals just a few centimeters long are also fascinating – and attract tourists from all over the world. Because the number of cicadas currently singing in Illinois only happens once in the United States every 221 years.
2024 is the year two distinct populations meet: the Great Southern Brood, which hatches en masse every 13 years, and the Northern Illinois Brood, which occurs every 17 years. Especially loud now Springfield, the capital of Illinois. One type of cicada can be heard in the north, while others are in the south.
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Although cicadas don't bite, sting, and destroy anything like tree insects, many in Illinois are already looking forward to the day when the insects' “visit” ends. This is expected to happen in two to three weeks when the adults die. Females lay billions of eggs that hatch and bury in the soil and emerge again every 221 years.
“The Walking Dead”
The discovery of a sexually transmitted disease that turns cicadas into “zombies” is now causing unease in the world of insect lovers, according to an entomologist. John Cooley of University of Connecticut described the effect.
is called parasitic noise NBCChicago “Massospora cicatina” and mainly attacks occasional cicadas. It's a white fungus that produces flapping signals for males – very attractive to both sexes. But then the animals lose their genitalia and the calcareous spores are distributed to other animals. Cooley says infected people are “walking dead” and “completely at the mercy of the fungus.”
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