Zoo animals eat rare cicadas
Animals at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois were seen eating cicadas. The periodical cicadas have emerged for the first time in 17 years and are part of two litters. The last time this happened was in 1803.
Two different families in the Chicago suburbs came across a “one in a million” blue-eyed cicada, and shared photos of the vibrant insect.
Greta Bailey told Fox News Digital that her 4-year-old son, Jack, was collecting the typical red-eyed cicada when the family first saw the bright-eyed insect in their Wheaton, Illinois, backyard.
Bailey told FOX 59 that he didn't realize blue-eyed cicadas existed until one walked into his backyard.
“I thought it was cool and unique and I hadn't even heard that blue-eyed cicadas existed,” Bailey said.
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Greta Bailey's four-year-old son spotted the vibrant-eyed cicadas in the family's backyard in Wheaton, Illinois. (Greta Bailey via Facebook)
Bailey said his family enjoyed taking photographs of the cicada before returning it to the wild.
Bailey's pictures showed the striking little blue-eyed cicada being held by her three children.
Greta Bailey's daughters hold the blue-eyed cicadas. The family later released the insect. (Greta Bailey via Facebook)
Another woman in a Chicago suburb found a “one in a million” blue-eyed cicada while visiting a nature preserve.
Kelly Simkins, owner of Merlin's Rocking Pet Show, shared her surprising find in a Facebook post, taking a photo of the cicada's vibrant blue eyes.
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“One in a million blue-eyed cicada was found today at 7am,” Simkins said in the post.
Two different blue-eyed cicadas were found in the Chicago suburbs this week. (Greta Bailey and Kelly Simpkins)
While the families' findings were rare, they are not unheard of.
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Blue eyes are caused by genetic variation, said Gene Kritsky, author of “Periodical Cicadas: The Plague and the Puzzle.”
In fact, blue-eyed cicadas are one in a million, Kritsky confirmed. “Of course,” she added, “there are hundreds of millions of cicadas.”
