Zoo animals chow down on rare cicadas
Animals at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, were spotted eating cicadas emerging after 17 years, a phenomenon that last occurred in 1803. Two families in the Chicago suburbs also found blue-eyed cicadas, a rare genetic variation, in their backyards.
Two separate families in the Chicago suburbs stumbled upon a “one in a million” blue-eyed cicada, sharing pictures of the vibrant insect.
One family’s 4-year-old son discovered the unique cicada while the other family found it at a nature preserve.
The families were amazed by the rare find and shared pictures of the blue-eyed cicadas before releasing them back into the wild.
Genetic variations can result in blue eyes in cicadas, making them exceptionally rare but not unheard of.