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ANIMALS – The United States suffers several invasions across the country. First of all there are the cicadas. Trillions of them have emerged from the ground for almost two weeks, invading the northwest of the United States. But there is another species that is making waves, this time in the western United States: the Mormon cricket.
Millions of specimens of this omnivorous and incidentally cannibalistic insect are currently flooding northern Nevada, where the images are particularly impressive. as you can see in the video at the top of the article. Drought stimulates these animals to search for food.
Problem is, they will then feed on anything that comes within reach of their mandibles, causing a lot of damage to nearby farms. This is where the name “Mormon” comes from. In the 19th century, these crickets continually destroyed the fields of Mormon residents.
Cannibals and zombies
The morbid peculiarity of these insects is their penchant for cannibalism. A study published in 2006 in the journal PNAS discovered that Mormon crickets lack salt and protein in their diet. To compensate for this deficiency, they eat their fellows.
This behavior is more opportunistic than predatory. If one is injured, it will likely be eaten. They also collect the remains of their dead or crushed comrades, which is not uncommon in urban areas. The noise of these crickets under the wheels of vehicles is also regularly presented as “bubble wrap” on social networks.
For their part, the cicadas which invade the northwest of the United States are not left out. Already, their pee is very impressive. Due to their diet, they urinate a lot, so much so that their jets are visible and give the impression that it is raining under the trees where they clump together. But that’s obviously not the worst.
These cicadas are victims of a sexually transmitted disease that turns them into zombies. More precisely, it is a mushroom, Massospora cicadina. The latter settles in place of their abdomen, a white and chalky plug bursts, causing their genitals to fall out. Fortunately, there is no evidence that this species is contagious to humans. No The Last of Us-style scenario for the moment, simply images worthy of an apocalyptic film.
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