Zoo animals feast on rare cicadas
Animals at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois have been spotted eating cicadas. The periodical cicadas have appeared for the first time in 17 years and are part of two broods. The last time this happened was in 1803.
Two separate families in suburban Chicago stumbled upon a “one in a million” blue-eyed cicada, sharing 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 spotted the glowing-eyed insect in their Wheaton, Illinois, backyard.
Bailey told FOX 59 she didn't realize blue-eyed cicadas existed — until one wandered into her yard.
“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 his family's garden in Wheaton, Illinois. (Greta Bailey via Facebook)
Bailey said his family enjoyed taking photos of the cicada before releasing it into the wild.
Bailey's images showed the strikingly blue-eyed little cicada being held by her three children.
Greta Bailey's daughters hold blue-eyed cicadas. The insect was then released by the family. (Greta Bailey via Facebook)
Another woman from a Chicago suburb found a “one in a million” blue-eyed cicada during a visit to a nature preserve.
Kelly Simkins, owner of Merlin's Rocking Pet Show, shared her striking discovery 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 found today at 7 a.m.,” Simkins said in the post.
Two different blue-eyed cicadas were found this week in suburban Chicago. (Greta Bailey and Kelly Simpkins)
Although the families' findings are rare, they are not uncommon.
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Blue eyes are caused by genetic variation, said Gene Kritsky, author of “Periodical Cicadas: The Plague and the Puzzle.”
Blue-eyed cicadas are indeed one in a million, Kritsky confirmed. “Of course,” he added, “there are hundreds of millions of cicadas.”