Bob Dylan-inspired Cicada Brood in 1970 will reappear this year

While the past year may have prompted many of us to collaborate, nothing compares to the Brood X cicadas that have spent the last seventeen years underground. . When they finally appear in a few weeks, this is the third time above ground since they inspired Bob Dylan ‘s song “Day Of The Locusts” in 1970.

On June 9, 1970, Bob Dylan visited Princeton University to pursue an honorary Doctor of Music degree. It was a hot day, he did not enjoy public events, and he did not like waiting to start the service, but after being crushed by David Crosby he he was in his black graduation uniform and got his degree.

Even though he wasn’t too worried about getting a degree, Dylan at least got a song out of the event. He promoted “Day Of The Locusts”, with lines such as “There was not much to say, no conversation, as I stepped onto the stage to take my step”. Judging by the lyrics of the song, the main thing that seems to have left a mark on it is the siege of ‘locusts’ on the horizon. It was not a locust, however, but a Brood X cicadas continuous background drone.

Brood X is still one of fifteen brooches of occasional cicadas found in the Eastern United States. Each brood spends most of its life underground, but every thirteen or seventeen years (depending on the brood) they all appear at the same time, mature into two. adults, breeding, laying eggs, and the cycle begins again a few weeks later when the new generation of cicada nymphs dig back underground for thirteen or seven years another thirteen.

Occasional cicadas usually live close to home, which makes their expectations quite hopeful. Brood X is one of the big burns. It appears across fifteen states, reaching as far as Michigan, Illinois, and Georgia, but is largely expected to appear in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Maryland. Any area that experienced a major outbreak of Brood X cicadas in 2004 can look forward to again this year.

Some cicadas had started early. In 2017, Vox reported that a few of the Brood X cicadas had appeared early. However, most of the offspring remained underground and will emerge in late Spring 2021.

Cicada emerges all at once as a survival strategy: there is no way predators could find all of them, so that guarantees that at least some of them survive. But how they settled on their schedule remains a mystery. Through simulations and calculations researchers have reduced the number of prime times making it less likely that offspring will appear at different times in the same place. If two offspring at different times produce offspring, the next generation may not live underground for the same amount of time, which could put them at risk. However, it is not yet entirely clear how cicadas became so synchronous and why they settled only at thirteen and seventeen years of age.

The Brood X cicadas heard by Bob Dylan at Princeton in 1970 died the same year, but their children appeared seventeen years later, in 1987. The next generation emerged in 2004, and their children – the grandchildren of the cicadas inspired by Dylan fifty years ago – now waiting in the wings.

according to Rolling StoneBroadcasting Dylan’s honorary degree, he was quick to get out of there after the ceremony. “Dylan left the stage, took off his uniform and with his party, got into a waiting car and drove down the road.”

And just like that, Brood X cicadas will visit for a short time, and disappear again.

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