LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Seventeen years ago, Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby, Ernie Fletcher was the governor of Kentucky and "Seabiscuit" lost the Oscar for Best Picture to "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
What You Need To Know
- The cicadas have been underground for 17 years
- Millions are expected to emerge this month
- The insects will mate, lay eggs and die within a few weeks
- The male cicadas attract females through a loud buzzing noise
The year 2004 was also the last time one of the largest groups of periodical cicadas, known as “Brood X,” emerged from the ground before mating, laying eggs and dying.
Millions of their offspring will soon be emerging to do the same thing, according to Dr. Anthony Lentz, an entomologist and professor emeritus at Bellarmine University.
“They emerge out of the ground and when they get there, they find the nearest vertical surface, whether it’s a wall, whether it’s a tree," Lentz said. "They get rid of their last skin, and then they start to inflate their wings, they let the skin harden, then they start feeding for a few days, and from there, they really go through the process of trying to find a mate so that the life cycle can be completed."
The males will start to "sing," by vibrating abdominal membranes to attract the females, according to Lentz.
"The females will lay eggs, up to 600 eggs per female, and soon after that, the adults die and the whole process starts over again," he said.
The cicadas won’t hurt you, but you’ll likely hear the males' mating song, Lentz said.
"It is like a really loud buzzing noise, but because there are literally millions of insects making this noise, it is louder than a lawnmower," he said.
While underground for 17 years, the cicadas haven’t been hibernating, but actively growing. They went into the ground at around a millimeter or two in size and will come out at about an inch and a half in size, according to Lentz.
The insects are expected in parts of Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and other states.
They will only live a few weeks above ground and the eggs they lay will emerge as cicadas in another 17 years, according to Lentz.
"These insects that live 17 years live longer than any other insect in the insect world, and I find this fascinating because they come out in this huge quantity just every 17 years and we still don’t know what environmental cues signal its emergence," he said.
If you want to help track the cicadas, you can submit photos on an app called “Cicada Safari."