According to US media reports, this summer the United States will usher in the largest cicada disaster in 221 years, with about one trillion golden cicadas breaking through the ground, which will pose a huge challenge to the American ecosystem.
It's just that Chinese netizens are not calm after seeing it, after all, the price of monkeys in the mainland has risen every year, 5 times in 10 years, and only by eating artificial breeding can they meet the market demand.
01, trillions of golden cicadas unearthed
The golden cicada is also known, and from May to July every year, the monkey hidden deep underground will break through the ground and transform into a golden cicada, bringing a different sense of noise to the summer.
However, in the eyes of Chinese, the golden cicada has become a "cicada disaster" in the United States, in fact, in May 2021, the largest cicada disaster in history broke out in the United States, the protagonist of which is the cyclical cicada that has been dormant underground for 17 years, and the last time it was so serious was in 2004.
As if instructed to do so, these cicadas broke through the ground in a short period of time, and about 30 billion golden cicadas came out one after another, so many that the weather radar could see them clearly, and in dense areas, there were 4 million golden cicadas per square meter.
Because there are no natural enemies, these golden cicadas are covered with all kinds of trees after they are unearthed, even the newly planted saplings are no exception, which makes Lao Mei have a headache.
Fortunately, these cicadas only have 4-6 weeks from the time they are unearthed to mate and lay eggs, and the Americans will endure it for a while.
But only three years have passed, and the record of cicada disasters in 2021 has been broken. According to the "Time", biologists analyzed that the United States will usher in the grand occasion of more than 1 trillion golden cicadas unearthed in 2024.
As for the reason, there will be two periodic groups of cicadas this year, one is the XIX cicada, which will live underground for 13 years, mainly in the southeastern United States, and the XIII cicada, which will stay underground for 17 years, mainly in northern Illinois.
The last time the two cicadas appeared together was in 1803 during Jefferson's presidency of the United States, and it has now been 221 years. The next cicada plague will occur in 2245.
According to cicada expert John Cooley, these two periods of cicada cycles are prime numbers, so it is rare for them to occur at the same time, only 13x17=221 years will occur at the same time.
It is expected that from mid-to-late April to June, these cicadas will be unearthed one after another, affecting 17 states in the United States, including Indiana and central Illinois, two periodic cicadas will appear at the same time, which will usher in an unprecedented "cicada disaster" in the United States.
02. What is a periodic cicada?
At present, there are about 2,000 species of cicadas in the world, including more than 300 species on the mainland. In terms of biological species, cyclical cicadas can be divided into 15 populations, of which 12 species can stay underground for 17 years and 3 species can stay underground for 13 years.
These cicadas are different from the cicadas that are unearthed each year in that they are smaller and more or less black, with orange wings and red eyes. Because of the long growth cycle, it is of great value in biological research.
After hatching into nymphs, these cicadas go underground and spend most of their lives underground, not breaking through until the 13th or 17th year, and their life cycle ends after emergence, mating, and egg laying.
Females can lay 400-600 eggs in their lifetime, and they lay 20-30 eggs in the crevices of small branches. These eggs hatch in July-August and continue to start a new cycle.
For Americans, the biggest danger of the "cicada disaster" is that they will face deafening noise pollution in the next two months. The cicada is the loudest insect in the world, with a decibel range of 70-100 decibels, and a group of golden cicadas can chirp up to 140 decibels, knowing that jet planes take off only 130 decibels.
03. The harm caused by the "cicada disaster" is huge
At present, scientists have not yet understood the mystery of why periodic cicadas emerge in a particular cycle. However, the ecological impact of the periodic cicada on North America is multifaceted.
First of all, as a member of the ecosystem, cyclical cicadas have a certain impact on the food chain and biodiversity. When cicadas are active underground, they can improve groundwater filtration and loosen the soil, providing benefits for vegetation growth. At the same time, the decomposition of the corpses of cicadas after death can also make the soil more fertile.
Secondly, the large-scale appearance of periodic cicadas can provide a large amount of food for insectivores. Golden cicadas are harmless to crops, humans, animals, and green plants, while raccoons, squirrels, cats and dogs, deer, birds, snakes, turtles, and rats all feed on cicadas.
Whenever the golden cicada explodes, plants and animals can obtain huge energy, which can better reproduce and maintain the population. Some studies have found that male turkeys in areas with cicadas are much larger than those in areas without cicadas.
However, the emergence of cyclical cicadas will also cause some animals to ignore other food sources, triggering a series of ecological reactions. It is understood that some insectivorous birds feed on leaf caterpillars, but in years with more cicadas, the capture of leaf caterpillars will be reduced, and as a result, the number of caterpillars will increase, and the damage to plants and crops will increase.
After the cyclical cicada lays eggs, these nymphs will absorb a large amount of sap from the roots when they are active underground, and after metamorphosing into golden cicadas, they will continue to suck the branches, affecting the growth of the trees.
Therefore, when the cicada plague appears, American experts recommend not planting new trees, but covering small trees and shrubs with purse seine nets to avoid being damaged by cicadas.
In general, the cyclical cicada has a great negative impact on the ecology of the United States, which can seriously affect the ecological balance and cause potential harm to crops and plant communities.
In fact, over the years, the United States has been taking a variety of measures to deal with the "cicada disaster", but the effect is not obvious. The main reason is that the periodic cicada lives underground most of the time, which can avoid the predation of natural enemies, and will quickly degenerate into golden cicadas after being unearthed, and the unearthed is concentrated, and the number is huge, and the natural enemies are difficult to catch even if they hunt no matter how much they hunt.
However, Chinese netizens did not understand after seeing it, and learned that the monkey was so delicious, so don't Americans eat it? It's just that there are not many "foodies" in the United States, and it is difficult to solve it by eating.
04. Eat artificial breeding in the mainland
Every summer night, there will always be a group of people in rural areas, looking for monkeys with flashlights, and professional cicada catchers have been derived, and it is not a problem to earn 2,000-5,000 yuan a night during the peak period.
The reason why I can make so much money is because I know that the purchase price of monkeys is relatively high, in the author's hometown, I know that the retail price of monkeys is 2 yuan a piece, and many people will buy them at a high price, which gives rise to a group of people who go up the mountain to catch, even if it is dark and there are more mosquitoes, these people are not afraid.
Many businessmen also saw the business opportunities and began to specialize in artificial breeding, after all, they can easily sell more than 100 yuan a pound in the market.
The mainland has had a tradition of eating cicadas since ancient times, as recorded in the "Book of Rites and Internal Rules": "Jue Yingfan." Among them, "Shu" refers to the cicada.
At the beginning of this century, the market purchase price of the monkey was only 5 cents, and then it rose to 1 cent, 2 cents, and 5 cents, but it had risen to about 8 cents 10 years ago, and the purchase price of the monkey reached 1.5 yuan 5 years ago, and the market was sold at a high price of 2 yuan.
Due to perennial catching, there are fewer and fewer wild monkeys in Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places, which can not meet the market demand at all, and many people have begun to breed artificially.
In some villages in Shandong, raising monkeys has become an industry, and many farmers rely on raising cicadas and selling cicadas, earning more than 500,000 yuan a year.
In Lishui, an area that does not like to eat cicadas, fried monkeys have now become a local delicacy, and the retail price of monkeys has risen from 1 yuan to 3-5 yuan today, and many people have to ask relatives and friends from other places to help "buy on behalf of others".
At present, the monkey can be sold for 100-130 yuan a catty, and there are about 90-100 per catty, and there will be many citizens, hotels, and food stalls to order every summer.
Not only is it more expensive offline, but the price of the monkey sold online is not cheap, and 100 can be sold for 119.8 yuan.
Some people are curious, why can monkeys be sold so expensive?
In fact, the edible value of the monkey is very high, it is a veritable high-protein food, the protein content is 58.58%, which is 6 times that of eggs and 3 times that of beef, no wonder some people call it Tang monk meat.
It is known that monkeys also contain a variety of essential amino acids, calcium, potassium and other trace elements, and its medicinal value is also very high, which can be good for improving essence and aphrodisiac, antibacterial and blood pressure.
At present, the cicada has been sold for 400-500 yuan a catty, which can be used to treat sore throat, wind-heat cold, heat clearing and detoxification, etc., and its value in traditional Chinese medicine is relatively high.
However, it is important to note that not all cicadas are edible, and some cicadas can be infected with a fungus called "Massospora cicadina", which in turn becomes "zombie cicadas". Although it is not clear what the harm of eating this cicada is, everyone tries not to eat the golden cicada with abnormal body.
At present, the annual demand for golden cicadas in the mainland is as high as 5 million tons, and many people have embarked on the road of artificial breeding, but because artificial breeding is more complicated, there is no large-scale breeding at present, and most of them are spontaneous behaviors of farmers.
In the United States, although cicadas are also used as food, they are only targeted at a small number of people, and most people do not dare to eat them, so the flood of golden cicadas has not been solved, what do you think?
Source: Sister Azhen of Huinong Circle
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