Ah nature, isn't it grand? The emergence of trillions of cicadas has triggered calls to the police recently in South Carolina. Residents in one county were concerned.
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In a Facebook post, The Newberry County Sheriff's Office said they received several calls on Tuesday. Concerned citizens hear a strange noise in the air. They thought it might be a siren of some sort. They described it as "a siren, or a whine or a roar." Well, that sound is actually cicadas emerging from the ground.
Their sounds can resemble the roar of an engine. Think of your neighbor mowing his lawn, and you have a good approximation. "Cicadas are a superfamily of insects that appear each spring," the sheriff's office added. "The nymphs have lived underground for 13-17 years, and now this time they are hatching."
This year is different for the insect. It's the largest emergence of cicadas in over two hundred years. The last time you had something similar was all the way back in 1803. So it probably sounds louder than many are used to. There are two varieties of cicadas. One emerges every year and is called the dog-day cicada. The other is a periodic cicada, which has a 13 to 17-year life span. Fortunately, these different broods of periodic cicadas aren't on the same cycle. That means they'll emerge at different times.
Cicadas Are Quite Noisy
"Cicadas have been doing this in nature since before recorded time. And they have a beneficial impact when they come out of the ground. They aerate the soil. They produce a lot of food resources for things that eat insects, like fish, birds and lizards," said Eric Benson, an entomologist at Clemson University, in an interview with the Associated Press.
In particular, periodic cicadas can be very loud. They are very noisy with male cicadas rubbing their legs together to find a mate. "Periodical cicadas can be quite loud when the males are coursing in huge numbers, but it's not dangerously loud. I would say it's like being at maybe a football game or a sized football game where people are cheering, but they're not going crazy," Benson said.
The emergence has started in some places in April. It will continue across Southern states. Cicadas should begin to emerge in the North starting in June. "Although to some, the noise is annoying, they pose no danger to humans or pets," Newberry County deputies said. "Unfortunately, it is the sounds of nature."
