cicadas

[TelkoTheGreat]

they make the loudest most annoying noise ever to exist, they have invaded the gum trees around my place we never get them so it's strange they have come. I have killed about 12 of them just by walking up to trees.

any1 else get them ? or know much about them ?

apparently they die after 2 or 3 weeks .. can someone confirm this ?

 

[dont bowl there]

Why the hell would you kill a cicada? The noise is great, it wouldnt be an Australian summer without the little champions going off.

 

[Heisenberg_]

what do they actually do?
is their a point for their existance apart from annoying people and keeping them awake?

 

[Adrian Shelton]

Head to Qld, the ones in the forest just in from the Sunny Coast sound like a 747 firing up!!!

 

[Kingpin]

it wouldnt be an Australian summer without the little champions going off.

Exactly, summer is heat, cricket, parties and cicadas!
We don't get them here at all being in the inner-city, but cicadas remind me of when I spent time in Melbourne staying with family friends in the suburbs.
These buggers were everywhere!

 

[Thrawn]

is their a point for their existance

Does existence itself have a point? Does it need to have a point?

 

[JSFish]

Cicadas make a sweet noise...
I can never find them though...if i go to where the noise is coming from, i cant tell exactly where they are, and if i bend down to try and hear them better, my whole head starts getting ringing in it everywhere and i lose my sense of direction and struggle to keep my footing.........

 

[Bomber32]

I quite like the sound of cicadas. They don't bother me at all.

 

[TelkoTheGreat]

I like the sound, but i'm experiencing one of those 7 yr cycle things where all of a sudden a flood of them have come from underground and gone up the trees calling to mate, the males all band together and go crazy it also acts as a bird repellent.

Your ears would be killing if you heard it but thank god that intense screeching only lasted about a week they have died down now so the sound is like your down at the river or something .

 

[camsmith]

I like the sound of them too.. means its summer.

Nothing better to cook a BBQ to.

 

[AFKAJR]

Love that unique Aussie summer sound, unless your laying in a pool of your own sweat with a raging hangover and the fire up outside your window.

 

[Moonwatcher]

The most amazing thing about cicadas are their life cycles. Different types of Cicada spend different time periods underground but all have "chosen" prime numbers. Read this article if your curious, its also mentioned in 'Fermats Last Theorem' by Singh (can't remember first name) for people interested in math.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s421251.htm