They've been waiting for 17years under the trees and beneath our feet,but on a warm spring night,their wait comes to an end for a lifetime they've been underground always alone.but night afet night,they emerge together as billions if cicadas gather in one of the greatest insect outbreaks on earth.
they cannot bite or sting,their only defense is to emerge in the millions but above all,they climb to seek a secure perck on which transform ,and so they begin the final few weeks of their 17-year lives.for the first few days,the new adults rest and recover and wait for their shells to harden.soon after the males begin to call to the females.their synchronized chorus is among the loudest sounds in nature .the mating frenzy peaks 3 to 4 weeks after the first cicada appears.but not all survive long enough fo find a mate.many are trappes in their oun shells,others have misshapen wings .but there are too many cicadas to eat,and billions survive to find a mate.soon after the females lay eggs,they punch deep holes into branches,and deposits hundreds of eggs inside,and with that act their lives are complete,as quickly as they appear their numbers dwindle until the last one fades away just 6weeks after the first,a few months later,only empty shells and decaying husks remain ,but up in the trees,hidden
in the branches ,billions of eggs are about to hatch,each newly hatched nymph is the size of a grain of nice,they crawls to the adge of their branch,and drop away,instinst drives them to seek refuge underground,and then they burrow away,not to be seen again for another 17 years .