By 
Rose Eveleth
 | 
TED-Ed Original

Cicadas: The dormant army beneath your feet

Every 13 or 17 years, billions of cicadas emerge from the ground to molt, mate and die. Adult cicadas only live a few weeks above ground, but you'd be hard pressed to ignore them -- they are extremely loud! Rose Eveleth explains everything you need to know about these noisy insects, admitting that there's still some things we just don't understand. [Directed by Eli Enigenburg, narrated by Rose Eveleth, music by Kevin MacLeod].

Related tags:

ted-ed
insects
animation
science
education
biology
nature
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