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why can't mosquitos emerge every 17 years
Sir David Frederick Attenborough will be 100 years old on May 8th - just a couple more weeks! I wish him many more: happy, healthy, & comfortable.
That snapping turtle might be the only animal shown that gets to enjoy several of these feasts in its lifetime
17 years bro for them to get this feast again
What’s fascinating is that emerging all at once helps them overwhelm predators through sheer numbers. An incredibly effective evolutionary strategy, and the video shows it brilliantly
Fun fact: cicadas emerge in prime-numbered years to prevent overlapping cycles with different broods and also to prevent predators from adapting to align with their emergence.
The scale of this is insane, it feels like the entire landscape just came alive all at once.
Salute to the cameraman for waiting 17 years to get this footage
We had two emergences in Ohio during the five years I was there. I got so used to hearing their whining that it was about a week before I realized it was gone! When I was a teen in the 70s, we'd take the empty husks they leave behind and stick them to our sweaters, like little pins. (I'm in my 60s now and wondering why we'd do such a nutty thing, lol!)
“At first there are merely thousands,” Heh. ‘Merely’ thousands he says.
It's like a world buffet for insects & and animals of all kind 🍽️
Imagine going through the forest at night and suddenly thousands of Insects emerge out of the ground. That’s nightmare fuel…
Most of the things on my retirement bucket list are seeing nature spectacles. I don't think I'll ever see lions chasing wildebeest or penguins nesting or orcas hunting seals by beaching themselves, but I can probably make it to Ohio one spring.
My late father used to stop everything to watch David Attenborough in the 1980s, and this is yet another example why. He's a national treasure.
Watching this in bed! No sleep tonight!!
Growing up in the Midwest, when I heard these things as a kid I had no idea this was such a huge phenomenon.
The 17 and 13 year swarms emerged simultaneously in Tennessee last summer, an event that only occurs every 221 years. Video can’t capture the magnitude. It felt like the air was vibrating. Every tree and bush was crawling. The constant thrum was inescapable. Then, they just disappeared
I was lucky to watch the emergence in Missouri a couple years ago, it was insane. Now we need to wait 15 more years for it to happen again. It's a fascinating part of nature.
I used to collect cicada husks when I was a kid. I used to think they were gifts from nature.
Beautiful video 💚💚