*runs in, panting*

Heard the timeline was in desperate need of a baby wild hamster right now. Got here as quickly as I could.

Big news in bug math. This is the first year since 1803 when both 13-year cicadas and 17-year cicadas will emerge from the ground simultaneously in the US!

13 and 17 are both prime. It's believed cicadas evolved to have prime-number life cycles, thus avoiding predators that emerge more frequently, like once every 4 years or 5 years or... whatever. By showing up infrequently, with a prime number life cycle, cicadas can starve out those predators.

And since 13 and 17 are both prime and 13 × 17 = 221, both kinds of cicadas emerge simultaneously only once every 221 years. And

1803 + 221 = 2024

so now they'll both emerge simultaneously and we'll have 𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠 of cicadas!

Also, this year the two kinds can interbreed! Maybe they're be fruitful and multiply... and we'll get 221-year cicadas. 😆

The last time the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cycle aligned with the Great Southern Brood’s 13-year cycle, Thomas Jefferson was president.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/19/science/cicadas-emergence-broods.html

Another cool moment from last year - finding out Bank Voles like peanuts..

#nature #vole #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography

Mapping changes in temperature: every year from 1850 to 2023

https://climatelabbook.substack.com/p/mapping-changes-in-temperature-every