April 29th, 2021, 3:24PM / BY Brittany Steff This 17-year Brood X cicada nymph is one step away from adulthood. After emerging from the dirt, cicadas typically crawl up the base of a tree to complete their final molt, expand their wings and fly away. (Roshan Patel, Smithsonian s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)
They slumber underground for 16 summers, nestled near tree roots, sipping xylem the nutrient-poor water inside tree tissues. Then, as ground temperatures rise on the 17th summer, they emerge and begin blindly burrowing their way toward the surface, bursting forth to a summer of song, flight and love.
It sounds like a spooky fairytale but in fact, it’s the actual true story of the 17-year Brood X cicadas and for some Zoo animals, the beginning of a tasty bug buffet.