00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 It's a cicada-pocalypse.
00:04 We are talking billions of these bugs,
00:06 as two different types of cicadas will swarm across the US
00:10 for the first time since 1803.
00:13 The last time these two species of cicadas shared the skies
00:16 was when Thomas Jefferson was president,
00:19 and it probably won't happen again until 2244.
00:23 This event is rare because these two types
00:25 emerge on different cycles,
00:26 only co-emerging every 221 years.
00:29 And despite the term cicada-pocalypse,
00:32 the two kinds only overlap in a small area of Illinois
00:35 and sometimes in Indiana.
00:37 Now, while cicadas can make a whole lot of noise,
00:39 the Environmental Protection Agency
00:41 says there's no reason to be alarmed about them,
00:43 since they're not harmful to humans,
00:45 pets, household gardens, or crops.
00:47 Cicadas even serve as a valuable food source
00:50 for birds and mammals,
00:51 and they aerate lawns and improve water filtration
00:54 into the ground while they add nutrients
00:56 to the soil as they decompose.
00:59 But that sounds pretty gross
01:00 if their decomposing bodies are added to your water.
01:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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