Wednesday, March 20, 2024
I'm sure this information will come in handy someday
Cicadas might be a mere inch or so long, but they eat so much that they have to pee frequently, emitting jets of urine, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This is unusual, since similar insects are known to form more energy-efficient droplets of urine instead of jets. Adult cicadas have even been known to spray intruders with their anal jets—a thought that will certainly be with us when "double brood" cicada season begins in earnest this spring.
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My wife was walking down our deck stairs the other evening, caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Copperhead about 18 inches long on the bottom of the 2x4 handrail sitting there. They are out already looking for the Cicadas emerging from ground. Didn’t learn Cicadas are a favorite of Copperheads until about 30 years ago. Amazing little creatures, and I hate those dang Copperheads. This cold snap might’ve nocked them both here in NW Alabama.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite cicada memory was in Virginia in 1987, a banner year for brood X. I was running a service station in Great Falls and those bugs were so thick we had to hose off the lot twice a day for a while and you couldn't hear yourself think they were so damn loud. I was out in front of the garage talking to a customer one afternoon and a white convertible drove through, blasting AC/DC with some guy in the back, a cast on his lower leg propped up on the front passenger's seat and a Budweiser 12 pack box on his head, smacking cicadas out of the air with a badminton racket.
ReplyDeleteI hate to admit it but I already knew this. Also cicadas were a favorite munchie of the desert tortises I kept in the back yard in South Texas as a kid. I'd catch cicadas and pull a wing off so they couldn't get away and the tortises would grab them and crunch em down. We didn't have internet so we had to play outside. We also have these Cicada Killer Hornets around here that will carry one off. Cicada Killers are a scary looking critter.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pisser. Cidada's do golden showers. Who knew?
ReplyDeleteOne thing that stuck out to me was the fact that Leonardo da Vinci was mentioned as being interested in fluid dynamics and surface tension of liquids. It just made me realize that he was so very well rounded as far as his interests.
ReplyDeleteNot just an artist, not just a designer, but a scientist as well. He would have been an interesting man to have been around.
The Bass like them!
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I'm not worried about cicadas pissing on me. I'm worried about Democrats pissing on me.
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