Yeah..., that happened in East Africa back in January of 2020... Ahhh..., I remember when people were complaining how bad January 2020 was. Those were the days. Remember when we thought the worst things to happen in 2020 were the fires in Australia and the threat of WW3 and Kobe Bryant's Calabasas helicopter crash. Good times. People in January 2020 ironically saying that 2020 would be the worst year ever: "Woooo, holy shit, January was rough. But it’s better to get the bad part of the year out of the way early, right?" Coronavirus/Covid-19 in January before infecting millions and killing tens of thousands of people: ruclips.net/user/shortsO5WbFb_Hi3E. Also, 2020 was four years ago... Time flies...
@@danfontaine8179 Well Canada is really big. Far bigger than the states. Places like Nova Heck Newfoundland is closer to Europe than Alaska, But we all share one thing. Massive swarms of mosquitos.
@@danfontaine8179 Canada is 9,984,671 Sq Kms, USA is 9,372,610, Mainland USA is only 7,654,754. That means total USA we are 6% bigger, Mainland USA we are 30% bigger. The difference between Canada and USA is roughly the same as the country of Ukraine (Europe's 2nd biggest country). And Canada doesn't have those nice comfy warm areas like the states does, The cold and mosquitos will kill you at any part.
I lived for two years in Lenexa, Kansas. I built my 4 year old son a sand house - a screened in sandbox - to protect him from mosquitoes, bees, etc. It so happened that I finished the sand house just before the year of the cicada. They came up from the ground, through the 12 inches of sand in the sand house. My son never went into the sand house again. Oh Lord what an ear splitting racket cicadas make - and back to LA, CA.
There was a cicada "plague" in the late eighties. We had a black lab puppy that discovered he could gently hold cicadas in his mouth and they would continue to buzz. One day, he comes up to us with tail wagging and a huge smile. We say hello then realize he's BUZZING! He so very obviously was saying, "Is this cool, or what?!" It was sofa king cool! Poor Bear was hit by a car, shortly afterwards. R.I.P. Bear! You were such a good boy!
This video reminds me of my Grandpa telling me about how he used to fly his small plane over These swarms as a young man in southern Kenya, to spray pesticides on to them. I remember him saying that, from the inside, you could see nothing but insects wherever you looked; It was scary but he enjoyed it, gave him a good feeling knowing he was helping with the starvation and hard times they caused so many people in that part of the world. I hope I have even half an as cool life as him. Rest easy Grandpa.
A few month's ago, a massive grasshopper landed on my screened in porch and I watched as it ate a hole in the fiberglass like it was made of butter. Ever since, I've fallen down the rabbit hole of insect plague research and entomology in general. Super interesting stuff 🤔👍🏻
There was one in my apartment in college, and to make a long story short, the blood it drew from my hand was the first time I knew that they bite people.
I am terrified of grasshoppers, locusts, centipedes. Not so much crickets. Once, while walking to the bus, a large grasshopper jumped out and latched onto my ankle. I screamed bloody murder, trying to both shake it off and run away at the same time, ended up toppling off the sidewalk, into a very busy road. The person that stopped asked if I was okay… don’t know where the bug went, but I was jittery on adrenaline the rest of the day!
We were visiting family in Kansas one year and a huge grasshopper clung onto the sideview mirror for a good portion of the travel. We dubbed it The Bug That Ate Pratt Kansas. From your story, it was aptly named
Yes, and a well known probl...eh.. phenomenon long time before climate change was even a topic, so that's probably a BS "scientific" explanation for its presence in AK.
@@benhetland576 What? No, the mossies have gotten much worse over the years. Here in Härjedalen we even are getting them in the early winter and spring when before they never use to hatch until may.
Idk if I’m the only one but hearing him talk about swarms of these insects makes me think how fun it would be to grab a flamethrower and torch those mofos lol
Oh I have lived in the South my entire life, just in different cities/states & the cicadas have fascinated me for literally as far back as I can remember! Finding their empty "shells" on trees & the sound is actually so loud on the 13 & 17 year swarms that when one is outside you have to yell to be heard! It's incredible! Thanks for this video!
Yup, colder places tend to have mosquito problems because when the ice and snow melt in the Summer, there's a lot of humidity in the area which Mosquitos love. Siberia is another region that has huge population levels of them.
I was at a festival here in Alaska, during the summer. The mosquitoes were absolutely insane. However, the festival had some tree forts, about 12 feet up, that you can climb up into. I realized up there that few of the mosquitoes wanted to climb up there with me. Cut the mosquitoes down by probably over 90%.
I experienced a locust swarm in Minnesota once. It was at night and I was trying to get gas at a middle-of-nowhere gas station. I'm not a religious person, but seeing that place draped in millions(?) of locusts gave me a little more understanding of how it seems like that horror show could be sent from a higher power. It was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.
Another insect swarm that we deal with here in New Orleans is formosan termites. Every spring you have to keep your lights down at night or you may get unwelcome guests. You'll see swarms all over street lights...they're gross
Also June bugs (May beetles, June beetles) I use to lived in the country in North LA, and we got swarms of June Bugs and Cicadas that would blot out your windows.
Formosan termites are such a problem that they're literally consuming the French Quarter. There's very few of the old wooden structures there that have not been severely damaged by them.
From the Wiki “In New Orleans, 30-50% of the city's 4,000 historic live oak trees are believed to be infested, with total damage costing the city $300 million a year.” Good lord
That video clip of Mayflies on Main street is from my hometown of Burlington, Iowa! I've been following this channel for a long time and it's so cool to see my stomping grounds in one of your videos!
A human "orgy swarm" sounds like something I've never seen but would truly like to. Anybody who can point me in the right direction, I will be grateful to you. Of course my interests are purely scientific.
I visit cedar point a lot and in the morning most of the roller coasters are completely covered with them. Feels like they just do nothing but sit there.
@@kenjisakaie6028 the female dies in the water after laying the eggs and the male stays close so that no other males mate with her. The males live up to 2 days while the female only 5 minutes. From my observation, most of them are still alive and fly away when touched.
OP: I thought the same thing. lol. @@Hovado_Lesni The joke was a weak homophonic pun which relied on the similarities between the words "midge" and "midget." In the former case, the word was benign, but due to some pattern of speech which caused both the OP and myself to hear the word differently than intended, it was amusing within the context. The reason that the context made it amusing is that the world is full of tyrants that frown on specific words that they find offensive, and for Joe to use one of those words would be absurd in this situation. In other words, it was amusing for the same reason that any joke is amusing: We expected one thing, only to find that our expectations ran counter to the punch-line. I hope that you found this "enlightening", though I doubt that it made the joke any funnier. You either get it or you don't. I'm sorry? Was I being too literal⸮
@@nino-gs5yt I had to look it up. Judging by your username, we're the same age. I watched SNL a lot in the 90's. Still didn't get it (I do now). I guess I didn't watch it enough to remember this running gag. Does Joe Scott really think there's "only like 5 people old enough to get" that? I understand he is aware of his stats, but, really? Being around the age of 40 isn't that old.
@@spacejunk76 Yeah, almost 40. But, honestly, even though I watched SNL in the 90s, I also probably wouldn't have gotten the reference either, except I went through a period last year where I watched a bunch of old Norm MacDonald clips on RUclips.
@@nino-gs5yt Thank you, I too know who he was and am of an age I thought I should get it..... Even went online to check if the was something I missed, I'm from the U.K I never used to watch SNL as the internet was well... New back then lol.
Had a friend's dad tell us about a sorta soul searching journey that lead him to Alaska, and he lived in the wilderness for like a month and a half. He actually commented about how there were so many bugs flying around everywhere. Like, he couldn't see more than a quarter of a mile away because there were so many bugs. He said the trip was the most profound and enlightening period of his life but that he would never do it again because of all the bugs constantly trying to fly into your ears, nose, and mouth.
"Middle out" is the best piece of television that I have ever seen (I have seen a lot of television). I probably have seen it a hundred times over the years. Just perfect writing.
Hi Joe...I just have to tell you how much I love your channel. I've been hooked since I watched the first one. Your videos are enjoyably educational, and you are hilarious and adorable! Keep it up, and I'll keep binge watching!!!
I have always thought locusts were just such a mystery. You hear all these horriric stories and wonder how they can be so destructive. Really love cool insect videos in general so, keep up the good work, man!
Fun fact: Locusts are actually eaten in great quantities in parts of east Africa and the Middle East and are a great source of Protein for many communities. There is a certain kind of Symmetry in that.
OMG down in Troy, OH when I lived there and the river was down to a trickle, one weekend the town was overrun by mayflies. Looked like a winter storm in the middle of summer!
I have worked as an auto insurance adjuster in Ohio, and mayflies actually account for a not so insignificant number of crashes due to both decreased visibility, and roadways becoming slick with their guts.
Man, Joe, you should really hear about my insect puns. They’re un bee-lievable. Let’s just hope they don’t fly over your head. Do they bug you? Do they?
9:29 I worked slightly southeast of where that “storm” was this past summer. A coworker said the mayfly this year were worse than he’s seen in the 20 years he’d been there. Here’s some fun facts about them. Driving around dawn or dusk sounded like you were driving over bubble wrap (they pop when they get squished) Some people had to sweep them up every morning and they filled 5 gallon buckets with them. Eventually someone came in and got some fly killing spray to spray the piles of dead mayflies so regular flies wouldn’t be able to lay their eggs in them. Eventually, they decided that it’d be better to use a leaf blower with the sucking/grinding mode to get rid of them. They like to land on lights. Some of the spotlights got completely blocked by them there were so many.
The Frank Stallone bit - I lost it when that came on. Thank you so much as I love those classic SNL sketches. Worst selling toy of the year... you guessed it, Tickle Me Frank Stallone.
I live in Louisiana, and after that hurricane the mosquitos were insane! I would get out of my car and have to run to my destination because there were so many
That thing with grasshoppers reminded me of how we had a park near where I grew up. Instead of woodchips, or sand, they used smooth pebbles. Well, the grasshoppers there were larger, and light grey.
7:20 I had always heard of how bad the mosquitos were in Alaska, but I went up in the summer (yup, Covid and all) and was astounded at not only their size, but their sheer tenacity, they thought my hardest slap was a cute come-on
@@anurag_verma_youtube id have to watch it again joe made a reference that he said three people would be old enough to get, well age wise im one of the three but i dont get it lol
It wasn't a "your mom" joke. It was a reference to an old running SNL gag, where Norm McDonald would just say "Frank Stallone" as an answer for no reason at all, a non sequitor.
Mosquitos just leave me alone. Its weird. When I was in the States in 2019 all my friends were getting chewed up and I didn't get a single bite. They would just avoid me.
@@ceo9395 I doubt it, when I was a teenager they used to bite me constantly, fortunately I don't know what changed but now they don't seem as interested in me anymore.
Not so fun fact: Moths can also bite you! Kinda. There's a group of moths in the genus calyptra called the vampire moths who live mainly in India, china, Japan, eastern Africa and parts of Europe. But one of these species lives exclusively in the US and Canada. the male moths use their proboscis to suck juice out of fruits or in some cases they use it to suck blood out of animals (including, in rare cases, humans!) so watch out bc they come out June to september, they don't pose a threat to humans though because it's incredibly rare that they feed on humans especially the canadian owlet moth ( the one that lives in us and canada ) which isn't much of a biter
@@TheRacoonGhost the volcano of thera when it erupted essentially wiped out two civilizations. The Cycladic when the island of Santorini sank and the Minoan civilization with the tsunami-tidal wave that arrived after the explosion. Basically if you observe the Cycadic islands in Greece you will see how close they are to each other. The tsunami affected them all as the Santorini volcano is considered a super volcano like the yellowstone. Santorini is connected to Atlantis, the mythical continent that sank in the sea, while it was at its peak. The mystery surrounding the destruction of one and the disappearance of the other has preoccupied scientists for many generations. The initial discussions about Atlantis began with references found in dialogues of Plato 'Timaeus' (21 E - 25 W) and 'Kritias' (108 E - 121 C). According to the above, the Athenian lawyer Solon visited Egypt (590 BC), where a priest in Sais told him about the history of Atlantis: 'a great and magnificent state that ruled the surrounding islands' and owed its power her in the culture that had evolved in her. The kingdom consisted of 2 islands, the 'largest' and the 'smallest' and there were 10 cities. Of these, only 2 were specifically mentioned, the 'Metropolis' and the 'Royal City'. Then Atlantis suffered a terrible earthquake and flood and sank completely into the sea. Finds from the excavations at Akrotiri led the studies to the conclusion that the lost Atlantis was none other than Santorini. However, over the centuries, as the myth was repeated, experts began to disagree. Professor Marinatos recognized Atlantis as Minoan Crete. Maybe Crete was the 'big' island, the 'Royal City', while Santorini, with which Crete had ties, was the 'Metropolis' or the 'smaller' island. The question of whether Atlantis really existed or not remains unanswered to this day. Βut ..According to Plato, Atlantis was a large island (larger than Libya and Asia combined) in the Atlantic Ocean. Its borders extended beyond the Heraklion Columns to the Mediterranean, Egypt and Tyrrhenia (Italy). The powerful dynasty that ruled Atlantis, according to Plato, had emerged directly from Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes. That is why many reject the idea that it was Santorini or Crete ... because of the size of Atlantis mentioned by Plato. Most scholars now agree with the view held by many of Plato's contemporaries: Atlantis was part of the imagination of the ancient Greek philosopher. "It was just a strong literary construction, to talk about the rise and fall of a civilization. The catastrophic earthquakes of Santorini, according to many scholars, gave Plato the opportunity to create his own mythical state Atlantis, and to immerse it in the mystery of prehistory.
When I was a child, I got to sit through a ladybug swarm! I had no clue what was happening, but I figured out that I should close my mouth after one got in.
One of the most interesting takes on an annual problem most everywhere...thanks Joe! Will help travel bums choose opportune schedules touring the world...Even one insect could be your demise while resting, hiking, fishing and/or just doing stuff in/ir near the infestation that is looking for a bite!
Now, you see, Matt, on almost any other type of site your comment would have drawn a bunch of snarky retorts about over-nerding it, but here, we appreciate the attention to detail and accuracy. Thank you, sir.
I’ve also seen huge clouds of May flies that morphed and pulsated in the sky near Lake Erie like something out of a science fiction movie and dead and dying ones that coated everything in sight piling up in places up to 6 inches or more along the edge of the road and everywhere else in a resort town along the Lake. Just don’t open your mouth and protect your eyes. Driving there among the massive invasion of May flies was a strange experience. I also happened to be in Cincinnati early in the summer of 1970 when I witnessed masses of Cicadas in heaps all over the ground and piled up in a gas station restroom, with an outside door, easily a foot thick or more in the corners of the floor. I believe that population was on a 17 year cycle. I just happened to be hitchhiking there on the weekend to attend a festival being held at the Cincinnati Reds baseball stadium and came upon the entirety unexpected scene. It was quite a memorable thing to witness and I don’t think I saw a single live insect (Cicada), only the lifeless carcasses in an area just north of the city. Strangely enough I don’t remember seeing anything like that inside the city center. Maybe they had already been cleaned up in town? Insects can be pretty weird sometimes. I can’t imagine what an encounter with hoards of locusts would be like.
That is true about mosquitos in Alaska. I believe the Alaskan state bird is the Mosquito. When I was stationed there and saw what looked like smoke from a fire in the distance... It was a swarm of mosquitos covering a huge area.
I've never heard it pronounced sicada (Cicada) before. It's pronounced Chicadda everywhere I've been (or Cigale in French). Brilliant video! Scotland is plagued by midges, horrible things. I signed up to curiosity stream in December through Joe, its excellent.
"Oh no! Smaller orgies..." is both the silliest and saddest scientific statement I've ever heard XD What else can be quantified by how much biomass is getting kinky all at once?
Hope I am remembering correctly but I lived in Portland TX for a few years and there was a massive population boom of "love bugs" the year before hurricane Harvey hit.
Mosquitos and Alaska. My dad used to tell a story. During WWII, his friend was stationed in Alaska. One night, he heard two mosquitos outside his tent. "Do we want to eat him here or drag him off into the woods?" "We'd better drag him off into the woods. If we try to eat him here. the big mosquitos will take him away from us." While they were arguing, he escaped out the back of the tent. ;)
@@tenkindsofpeople3679 They do share multiples, just no small ones. The two cicada cycles should fall together every 13*17=221 years. The question is: Does this mean a catastrophe every 221 years, or is it irrelevant?
@@renerpho huh. You’re right. I was thinking of the divisors, but it brings up an interesting point: is that 221 a cycle? Meaning from some starting point do they diverge after 221 or would it be like 13x17xn where n is cycle number?
@@tenkindsofpeople3679 If the cycles are perfect then the two would fall together every multiple of 221 years, yes. I'm not sure though if the cicada cycles are truly this stable in nature.
@@Richard.Holmquist Really??? Where in the US do you live? Where I grew up in NY, daddy long legs are large, spindly, spider looking insects that def do NOT fly.
A really really really cool video. Thanks a lot Joe! Two short comments, mosquitoes are a huge problem along Dalälven (Dalecarlia river ... maybe) in mid Sweden and authorities has been granted to use forbidden pesticides. Second, if we treat swarms like gas molecules in motion, we could theoretically calculated the temperature of that swarm, using quantum mathematics 😎.
There was a locust species in North America, the Rocky Mountain locust. It could create swarms that dwarfed those of the African Desert locust. It went extinct around the end of the 19th, start of the 20th century as the habitat where its non swarming phase lived was rapidely turned into farmland.
There was a cicada swarm in the Midwest when i was a teen & it was WILD. There were trees where the entire trunk was covered in chirping and movement. Everything outside was crazy loud and you couldnt escape getting swarmed anytime you went outside. We took tennis rackets with us anytime we walked outside. I wish I would've had a video camera to record the sound, nothing quite like it with that many insects.
Hey Joe, have you heard of the "Free energy" graphene circuit developed by the University of Arkansas researchers in October 2020? I would love to see your take on it in the coming weeks.
I’ve actually used that site! I was trying to find the cicada species that populated where I grew up in east texas so I could find recordings of their song to listen to at night. it’s so calming and peaceful, reminds me of summer evenings as a kid.
I‘be seen the worst that mosquitoes can do as regards to blood loss for the first time in my long life one year in a sudden and significant temperature increase right after a prolonged rain. Living in the heart of the vast area which had been known formerly as the “Black Swamp” (before it had been settled and drained more than a century ago). I was living surrounded on 3 sides by a wilderness preserve and right next to a state forest, areas largely unimproved by drainage ditches and left untreated by the normal mosquito control of more populated areas in the region, when there was a sudden surge in mosquito population (at the same time I was laid up by a brief but inordinately potent illness) when 4 of my animals were killed by mosquitoes. I had never seen anything like it! One of the stricken animals I managed to make it to the veterinarian office with when it collapsed in the entrance to the doorway of the hospital. To my shock and horror the vet couldn’t save it and he showed me the poor animal’s nearly white gums. Evidence that the animal had been almost drained entirely of its blood supply. I never would have believed it was possible but my experienced veterinarian recognized the symptoms. Sad to say but it made a lasting impression which I’ll never forget! It happened in an extremely brief period of time which further added to the shock of the whole experience. (Probably less than a full day.)
What I watched: A Video about Insect Plagues What I expected: The Cause and Effect of Insect Swarms to Human Agriculture and the Environment: An Assessment Study for the Future. What I got: *Biomass Orgies.* (For real though, acquiring swarm intelligence/patterns into human technology such as improving drones or just navigation in general is an interesting topic)
I'm and Okie. Sorry. But I have experienced some of the most incredible and frightening mosquito swarms ever. Often times as a fishermen I like to go out to ponds and rivers after rainfall because it pushes some of the bigger fish down into the deeper waters and concentrates them. Anway, that also means mosquitos become a serious problem in the warmer months. There was a night where I had been fishing a friend. It was quiet, the water was slightly warm and the air thick with humidity. We had a decent catch and as we started to get ready to camp for the night we heard it. A hum. It grew from the north shore and became slowly louder as we saw a fog bank approach. We didnt quite understand where the noise was coming from because it couldn't be the fog itself. The first group, the quickest, landed on my exposed arms they laid outside the sleeping bad. That's when my friend immediately yelled "Get into you nap sack now! Close the front" as he proceeded to close the sleeping bags zipper and hid his body. I did my best to follow his lead and got inside my bag. The noise grew so loud I could no longer hear my heartbeat or my breath. It was a swarm of death. The only thing protecting me from their needles was the down of my sleeping bag. It was gone as soon as it appeared. My arm was covered in hundreds of bites, just from the moment before the swarm.
I literally forgot Locusts even swarmed in 2020, it was such a radical year.
Yhea there was no extra rain fall. They just thought they'd join the rest of the planet in trying to kill off humanity. 🤔😊💭🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟
Honestly doesn’t surprise me it’s just saw the perfect opportunity to strike
locusts, no problems, from thailand.
Yeah..., that happened in East Africa back in January of 2020...
Ahhh..., I remember when people were complaining how bad January 2020 was. Those were the days.
Remember when we thought the worst things to happen in 2020 were the fires in Australia and the threat of WW3 and Kobe Bryant's Calabasas helicopter crash. Good times.
People in January 2020 ironically saying that 2020 would be the worst year ever: "Woooo, holy shit, January was rough. But it’s better to get the bad part of the year out of the way early, right?"
Coronavirus/Covid-19 in January before infecting millions and killing tens of thousands of people: ruclips.net/user/shortsO5WbFb_Hi3E.
Also, 2020 was four years ago... Time flies...
“I just want to say one word to you, Joe.
Just. One. Word. Are you listening? Flamethrowers."
Seems i wasn't the only one thinking that lol
That will make the entire sky light on fire.
Flammenwerfer...
Just don't apply it to your leg if it gets swarmed.
Hans!
Alaska: The cold kills you in the winter, the mosquitoes kill you in the summer, and the moose kill you year round.
Sounds like most of Canada as well.
@@hightechredneck8587 it’s almost like Alaska is right next to Canada
@@danfontaine8179 Well Canada is really big. Far bigger than the states. Places like Nova Heck Newfoundland is closer to Europe than Alaska, But we all share one thing. Massive swarms of mosquitos.
@@hightechredneck8587 Canada and US are roughly the same size. Flat maps stretch things out toward the poles.
@@danfontaine8179 Canada is 9,984,671 Sq Kms, USA is 9,372,610, Mainland USA is only 7,654,754. That means total USA we are 6% bigger, Mainland USA we are 30% bigger. The difference between Canada and USA is roughly the same as the country of Ukraine (Europe's 2nd biggest country). And Canada doesn't have those nice comfy warm areas like the states does, The cold and mosquitos will kill you at any part.
I LOVE CICADA MANIA I FOUND IT ONE TIME WHILE NERDING OUT ABOUT CICADAS AND SHOWED MY FRIENDS AND NO ONE CARED IM SO GLAD YOU DO. YOU GIVE ME HOPE
Whoa! Whoa!
Chill out mate!
And please wear back your pants
You are not alone. I hope that helps and hello from Australia
edit: you might also like this ruclips.net/video/3cldi_GS-zs/видео.html
Me too!!!
I lived for two years in Lenexa, Kansas. I built my 4 year old son a sand house - a screened in sandbox - to protect him from mosquitoes, bees, etc. It so happened that I finished the sand house just before the year of the cicada. They came up from the ground, through the 12 inches of sand in the sand house. My son never went into the sand house again. Oh Lord what an ear splitting racket cicadas make - and back to LA, CA.
I grew up in Alaska, and my mom had actual nightmares about me being carried off by a swarm when I was a toddler.
New mothers have enough to worry about. Your poor mom!
I grew up by a lake in Louisiana, I had actual nightmares about myself getting carried off by mosquitos.
Same! I was down in southeast and always thought they were a bit much, clearly I was right lol.
There was a cicada "plague" in the late eighties. We had a black lab puppy that discovered he could gently hold cicadas in his mouth and they would continue to buzz.
One day, he comes up to us with tail wagging and a huge smile. We say hello then realize he's BUZZING! He so very obviously was saying, "Is this cool, or what?!" It was sofa king cool!
Poor Bear was hit by a car, shortly afterwards. R.I.P. Bear! You were such a good boy!
Rest in peace to the best pupper
My first dog was hit by a car a few years ago, broke my heart
@@Twofrogsonecup
I am so sorry for your loss! They are the best friends we could ever have. It's such a huge loss when they are gone. 😥
Way to take us to a cliff and push us from behind. Rip Bear.
Sorry about your dog he sounded hilarious.
This video reminds me of my Grandpa telling me about how he used to fly his small plane over These swarms as a young man in southern Kenya, to spray pesticides on to them. I remember him saying that, from the inside, you could see nothing but insects wherever you looked; It was scary but he enjoyed it, gave him a good feeling knowing he was helping with the starvation and hard times they caused so many people in that part of the world. I hope I have even half an as cool life as him. Rest easy Grandpa.
Sadly, I am only now the first person to give your comment a thumbs up. It deserves a lot more.
A few month's ago, a massive grasshopper landed on my screened in porch and I watched as it ate a hole in the fiberglass like it was made of butter. Ever since, I've fallen down the rabbit hole of insect plague research and entomology in general. Super interesting stuff 🤔👍🏻
Get aluminum or steel wire screening!! Seriously!! It's a thing.
There was one in my apartment in college, and to make a long story short, the blood it drew from my hand was the first time I knew that they bite people.
I am terrified of grasshoppers, locusts, centipedes. Not so much crickets.
Once, while walking to the bus, a large grasshopper jumped out and latched onto my ankle. I screamed bloody murder, trying to both shake it off and run away at the same time, ended up toppling off the sidewalk, into a very busy road. The person that stopped asked if I was okay… don’t know where the bug went, but I was jittery on adrenaline the rest of the day!
We were visiting family in Kansas one year and a huge grasshopper clung onto the sideview mirror for a good portion of the travel. We dubbed it The Bug That Ate Pratt Kansas. From your story, it was aptly named
"I always associated mosquitos with tropical areas."
Swedes, Finns, and Russians: Ha. We wish!
Don't forget Canada.
Yes, and a well known probl...eh.. phenomenon long time before climate change was even a topic, so that's probably a BS "scientific" explanation for its presence in AK.
@@matthewcox7985 ...and Norway! ...and Iceland.
@@benhetland576 What? No, the mossies have gotten much worse over the years. Here in Härjedalen we even are getting them in the early winter and spring when before they never use to hatch until may.
@@benhetland576 nope. Mosquitos are hanging around a month longer where I live.
Not sure how Joe makes insect swarms extremely interesting but here we are. I’m interested.
Imo insect swarms are interesting by default
So damn true !!! Would never have clicked it if it weren’t for this guy explaining
Idk if I’m the only one but hearing him talk about swarms of these insects makes me think how fun it would be to grab a flamethrower and torch those mofos lol
How isnt swarming insects and why they do what they do isnt interesting? I clicked the second I saw it.
@@Cobra85291 it was made even more interesting, I should say.
Oh I have lived in the South my entire life, just in different cities/states & the cicadas have fascinated me for literally as far back as I can remember! Finding their empty "shells" on trees & the sound is actually so loud on the 13 & 17 year swarms that when one is outside you have to yell to be heard! It's incredible! Thanks for this video!
Yup, colder places tend to have mosquito problems because when the ice and snow melt in the Summer, there's a lot of humidity in the area which Mosquitos love. Siberia is another region that has huge population levels of them.
I was at a festival here in Alaska, during the summer. The mosquitoes were absolutely insane. However, the festival had some tree forts, about 12 feet up, that you can climb up into. I realized up there that few of the mosquitoes wanted to climb up there with me. Cut the mosquitoes down by probably over 90%.
I experienced a locust swarm in Minnesota once. It was at night and I was trying to get gas at a middle-of-nowhere gas station. I'm not a religious person, but seeing that place draped in millions(?) of locusts gave me a little more understanding of how it seems like that horror show could be sent from a higher power. It was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.
Another insect swarm that we deal with here in New Orleans is formosan termites. Every spring you have to keep your lights down at night or you may get unwelcome guests. You'll see swarms all over street lights...they're gross
Also June bugs (May beetles, June beetles) I use to lived in the country in North LA, and we got swarms of June Bugs and Cicadas that would blot out your windows.
Formosan termites are such a problem that they're literally consuming the French Quarter. There's very few of the old wooden structures there that have not been severely damaged by them.
From the Wiki
“In New Orleans, 30-50% of the city's 4,000 historic live oak trees are believed to be infested, with total damage costing the city $300 million a year.”
Good lord
In computer science there are optimization algorithms that emulate swarms to find optimal solutions to problems where gradient descent is impractical
"It's like your Mom's in Town"
lolol
Best one I've heard in a long while
That video clip of Mayflies on Main street is from my hometown of Burlington, Iowa! I've been following this channel for a long time and it's so cool to see my stomping grounds in one of your videos!
"We may be considered to be swarm animals as well, particularly in respect to the sharing of information"
- and of course, the orgies!!!
A human "orgy swarm" sounds like something I've never seen but would truly like to. Anybody who can point me in the right direction, I will be grateful to you. Of course my interests are purely scientific.
Lake Erie's Mayfly population is actually increasing because of a concerted effort to clean up the lake over many years.
Those things are horrifying. It really feels the the end times when they all come out to play.
I visit cedar point a lot and in the morning most of the roller coasters are completely covered with them. Feels like they just do nothing but sit there.
Well, to be fair, if I were dead I wouldn't be doing much either.
@@kenjisakaie6028 the female dies in the water after laying the eggs and the male stays close so that no other males mate with her. The males live up to 2 days while the female only 5 minutes. From my observation, most of them are still alive and fly away when touched.
@@zach1513R I used to work at Put-in-Bay & we used to have to brush off mayflies with a broom.
You finally got me...Signed up for Curiosity Stream specifically to see your Nebula series. Looking forward to it!
Same!
I tried before, but wouldn't work for me when trying the Joe Scott code...
i thought you said "let's take a moment to talk about midgets" and I just about choked on my breakfast lol
I don't get that joke, can you enlighten me, please?
Clearly Joe was just making small talk.
OP: I thought the same thing. lol.
@@Hovado_Lesni The joke was a weak homophonic pun which relied on the similarities between the words "midge" and "midget." In the former case, the word was benign, but due to some pattern of speech which caused both the OP and myself to hear the word differently than intended, it was amusing within the context. The reason that the context made it amusing is that the world is full of tyrants that frown on specific words that they find offensive, and for Joe to use one of those words would be absurd in this situation.
In other words, it was amusing for the same reason that any joke is amusing: We expected one thing, only to find that our expectations ran counter to the punch-line. I hope that you found this "enlightening", though I doubt that it made the joke any funnier. You either get it or you don't. I'm sorry? Was I being too literal⸮
@@Oddness Thanks for the clarification, yes once the joke had to explain its not funny anymore but I see the punch line now.
Me too
Swarm Intelligence. It’s like the opposite of the Madness of Crowds.
Dude, looks like you and I watch all the same RUclips channels. Lol. I see you here, I see you on dave ramsey / Chris Hogan youtube.
Chad swarm intelligence vs. virgin mob mentality
he didnt even talk about the best part.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_intelligence
Gang unintelligence
Do we think it wiser than *Pack Mentality*? Likely.
The Frank Stallone reference was hilarious thank you.
ok... it went over my head. Please explain the reference to me.
@@spacejunk76 it's a recurring joke by Norm McDonald on SNL's weekend update segment, from the 90s I think.
@@nino-gs5yt I had to look it up. Judging by your username, we're the same age. I watched SNL a lot in the 90's. Still didn't get it (I do now). I guess I didn't watch it enough to remember this running gag. Does Joe Scott really think there's "only like 5 people old enough to get" that? I understand he is aware of his stats, but, really? Being around the age of 40 isn't that old.
@@spacejunk76 Yeah, almost 40. But, honestly, even though I watched SNL in the 90s, I also probably wouldn't have gotten the reference either, except I went through a period last year where I watched a bunch of old Norm MacDonald clips on RUclips.
@@nino-gs5yt Thank you, I too know who he was and am of an age I thought I should get it..... Even went online to check if the was something I missed, I'm from the U.K I never used to watch SNL as the internet was well... New back then lol.
Had a friend's dad tell us about a sorta soul searching journey that lead him to Alaska, and he lived in the wilderness for like a month and a half. He actually commented about how there were so many bugs flying around everywhere. Like, he couldn't see more than a quarter of a mile away because there were so many bugs. He said the trip was the most profound and enlightening period of his life but that he would never do it again because of all the bugs constantly trying to fly into your ears, nose, and mouth.
I will get curiosity stream just to watch this Joe Scott series
That Frank Stallone joke was so good, it almost made me forget about the bugs… the same way OJ forgot his glove.
This is a mind-blowing and information-dense video even by your own standards. (Which considering how high you have set that bar, is considerable)
"so i nerded out on cicadas..."
a man to my own heart
"Middle out" is the best piece of television that I have ever seen (I have seen a lot of television). I probably have seen it a hundred times over the years. Just perfect writing.
Last year here in Oklahoma City we had what seemed like a plague of dragonflies. Probably helped with the mosquitoes.
Also Norm Macdonald is awesome.
"ooooh, aaaahh, that's how it all starts, but then there's running... and screaming"- Dr. Ian Malcom.
Hahaha jurassic good one
Hi Joe...I just have to tell you how much I love your channel. I've been hooked since I watched the first one. Your videos are enjoyably educational, and you are hilarious and adorable! Keep it up, and I'll keep binge watching!!!
I have always thought locusts were just such a mystery. You hear all these horriric stories and wonder how they can be so destructive. Really love cool insect videos in general so, keep up the good work, man!
Fun fact: Locusts are actually eaten in great quantities in parts of east Africa and the Middle East and are a great source of Protein for many communities. There is a certain kind of Symmetry in that.
you've done it again team Joe! youve informed and entertained at the same time. well done
2 in a day. I love it keep it coming buddy! Let's do 3 next week lol. Don't kill yourself for it though
Everyone loves a good Norm McDonald reference...even if they don't realize it is one!
You guessed it...Frank Stallone!!
or so the Germans would have us believe
He kept saying midges, it took me a while to realize he wasn’t talking about little people and this isn’t I’m Not Norm.
Been to Lake Erie during mayfly season. Every step would be the death of hundreds of them.
OMG down in Troy, OH when I lived there and the river was down to a trickle, one weekend the town was overrun by mayflies. Looked like a winter storm in the middle of summer!
@@andie_pants ewwww gross!
We lived on the West Side of Cleveland about a mile south of Lake Erie. Midge swarm were (or as we called the Canadian Soldiers) unimaginable.
@@andie_pants Hence we should be selling flamethrowers in Michigan
I have worked as an auto insurance adjuster in Ohio, and mayflies actually account for a not so insignificant number of crashes due to both decreased visibility, and roadways becoming slick with their guts.
This rocks dude. So good. You are a RUclips master.
"I nerded out on cicadas." You *have* to love a guy who seriously says such a thing.😎
I always wait until the end simply to hear Joe say "I love you guys". Love you too Joe. Thank you for all your content.
Man, Joe, you should really hear about my insect puns. They’re un bee-lievable. Let’s just hope they don’t fly over your head. Do they bug you? Do they?
It's only a sMIDGE of discomfort.
I can do much beetle than you...
Shouldn't you bee doing detective things instead of bugging Joe and ticking off his hive?
Mantis was an awful joke..
That bee pun was so bad it stung
9:29 I worked slightly southeast of where that “storm” was this past summer. A coworker said the mayfly this year were worse than he’s seen in the 20 years he’d been there. Here’s some fun facts about them.
Driving around dawn or dusk sounded like you were driving over bubble wrap (they pop when they get squished)
Some people had to sweep them up every morning and they filled 5 gallon buckets with them. Eventually someone came in and got some fly killing spray to spray the piles of dead mayflies so regular flies wouldn’t be able to lay their eggs in them.
Eventually, they decided that it’d be better to use a leaf blower with the sucking/grinding mode to get rid of them.
They like to land on lights. Some of the spotlights got completely blocked by them there were so many.
In Mississippi we call those “crane flies” Skeeter eaters
Cute. ☺️
Good
Skeeter?
@@Phoenixash-delfuego midwestern slang for mosquito 😎
@@romanes_eunt_domus thank you.
The Frank Stallone bit - I lost it when that came on. Thank you so much as I love those classic SNL sketches. Worst selling toy of the year... you guessed it, Tickle Me Frank Stallone.
I live in Louisiana, and after that hurricane the mosquitos were insane! I would get out of my car and have to run to my destination because there were so many
I've been to Alaska. I was in Denali in June of 2009, the mosquitoes were unreal. Seriously, black clouds of them flying around.
Gotta love biblical explanations of note understood events.
That thing with grasshoppers reminded me of how we had a park near where I grew up. Instead of woodchips, or sand, they used smooth pebbles. Well, the grasshoppers there were larger, and light grey.
Most important thing said in this video: "google has been following you... And they know things!"
But I wonder how ?
7:20 I had always heard of how bad the mosquitos were in Alaska, but I went up in the summer (yup, Covid and all) and was astounded at not only their size, but their sheer tenacity, they thought my hardest slap was a cute come-on
That your mom joke caught me off guard 😂😂 also im old enough (35) but i still don't recognize him beyond his name
Hey dude what are you talking about
@@anurag_verma_youtube id have to watch it again joe made a reference that he said three people would be old enough to get, well age wise im one of the three but i dont get it lol
Norm macdonald
It wasn't a "your mom" joke. It was a reference to an old running SNL gag, where Norm McDonald would just say "Frank Stallone" as an answer for no reason at all, a non sequitor.
@@caseyjones9114 hey thanks, i never watched snl as a kid which is probably why i didn't get it lol
Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.
Mosquitos just leave me alone. Its weird. When I was in the States in 2019 all my friends were getting chewed up and I didn't get a single bite. They would just avoid me.
Found the reptiloid from Draconis
Could it be a blood type thing?
@@ceo9395 I doubt it, when I was a teenager they used to bite me constantly, fortunately I don't know what changed but now they don't seem as interested in me anymore.
@@ceo9395 mosquitos detect body odor, not blood type.
Not so fun fact:
Moths can also bite you! Kinda.
There's a group of moths in the genus calyptra called the vampire moths who live mainly in India, china, Japan, eastern Africa and parts of Europe. But one of these species lives exclusively in the US and Canada. the male moths use their proboscis to suck juice out of fruits or in some cases they use it to suck blood out of animals (including, in rare cases, humans!) so watch out bc they come out June to september, they don't pose a threat to humans though because it's incredibly rare that they feed on humans especially the canadian owlet moth ( the one that lives in us and canada ) which isn't much of a biter
When I see the island of Thera I get Assassins Creed Odyssey flashbacks for some reason.
can't possibly understand why... atlantis anybody?..
@@TheRacoonGhost the volcano of thera when it erupted essentially wiped out two civilizations. The Cycladic when the island of Santorini sank and the Minoan civilization with the tsunami-tidal wave that arrived after the explosion.
Basically if you observe the Cycadic islands in Greece you will see how close they are to each other. The tsunami affected them all as the Santorini volcano is considered a super volcano like the yellowstone.
Santorini is connected to Atlantis, the mythical continent that sank in the sea, while it was at its peak. The mystery surrounding the destruction of one and the disappearance of the other has preoccupied scientists for many generations.
The initial discussions about Atlantis began with references found in dialogues of Plato 'Timaeus' (21 E - 25 W) and 'Kritias' (108 E - 121 C). According to the above, the Athenian lawyer Solon visited Egypt (590 BC), where a priest in Sais told him about the history of Atlantis: 'a great and magnificent state that ruled the surrounding islands' and owed its power her in the culture that had evolved in her.
The kingdom consisted of 2 islands, the 'largest' and the 'smallest' and there were 10 cities. Of these, only 2 were specifically mentioned, the 'Metropolis' and the 'Royal City'.
Then Atlantis suffered a terrible earthquake and flood and sank completely into the sea. Finds from the excavations at Akrotiri led the studies to the conclusion that the lost Atlantis was none other than Santorini. However, over the centuries, as the myth was repeated, experts began to disagree. Professor Marinatos recognized Atlantis as Minoan Crete.
Maybe Crete was the 'big' island, the 'Royal City', while Santorini, with which Crete had ties, was the 'Metropolis' or the 'smaller' island.
The question of whether Atlantis really existed or not remains unanswered to this day.
Βut ..According to Plato, Atlantis was a large island (larger than Libya and Asia combined) in the Atlantic Ocean. Its borders extended beyond the Heraklion Columns to the Mediterranean, Egypt and Tyrrhenia (Italy). The powerful dynasty that ruled Atlantis, according to Plato, had emerged directly from Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes.
That is why many reject the idea that it was Santorini or Crete ... because of the size of Atlantis mentioned by Plato.
Most scholars now agree with the view held by many of Plato's contemporaries: Atlantis was part of the imagination of the ancient Greek philosopher. "It was just a strong literary construction, to talk about the rise and fall of a civilization.
The catastrophic earthquakes of Santorini, according to many scholars, gave Plato the opportunity to create his own mythical state Atlantis, and to immerse it in the mystery of prehistory.
@4:18 "Is that over the top?" ...Nope. That's a generous understatement!
Thank you so much for the nightmare fuel Joe. Mayfly orgies and Midge swarms? Come on man! How am I supposed to sleep now?
When I was a child, I got to sit through a ladybug swarm! I had no clue what was happening, but I figured out that I should close my mouth after one got in.
Lost it at Frank Stallone, thanks for that Joe.
Mosquitos have been an issue in Alaska as long as people have been up there recording them. I remember hearing about it in a documentary in the 1960s.
Checking out the cicada's page, bye
Proud of you Joe! Congrats on the new show you earned it!!!
Even though crane flies are harmless, they still bug me.
My big brother is scared of them & used to ask me to get them out of is room. Stupid thing is, I'm scared of spiders.
One of the most interesting takes on an annual problem most everywhere...thanks Joe! Will help travel bums choose opportune schedules touring the world...Even one insect could be your demise while resting, hiking, fishing and/or just doing stuff in/ir near the infestation that is looking for a bite!
In your clips of caribou, the middle clip was not caribou, it was Rocky mountain elk in Jackson wyoming
Now, you see, Matt, on almost any other type of site your comment would have drawn a bunch of snarky retorts about over-nerding it, but here, we appreciate the attention to detail and accuracy. Thank you, sir.
Well..... somebody Nerded out on elk! 😁
Lol, I never comment on things
I know it looks nitpicky haha
I’ve also seen huge clouds of May flies that morphed and pulsated in the sky near Lake Erie like something out of a science fiction movie and dead and dying ones that coated everything in sight piling up in places up to 6 inches or more along the edge of the road and everywhere else in a resort town along the Lake. Just don’t open your mouth and protect your eyes. Driving there among the massive invasion of May flies was a strange experience. I also happened to be in Cincinnati early in the summer of 1970 when I witnessed masses of Cicadas in heaps all over the ground and piled up in a gas station restroom, with an outside door, easily a foot thick or more in the corners of the floor. I believe that population was on a 17 year cycle. I just happened to be hitchhiking there on the weekend to attend a festival being held at the Cincinnati Reds baseball stadium and came upon the entirety unexpected scene. It was quite a memorable thing to witness and I don’t think I saw a single live insect (Cicada), only the lifeless carcasses in an area just north of the city. Strangely enough I don’t remember seeing anything like that inside the city center. Maybe they had already been cleaned up in town? Insects can be pretty weird sometimes. I can’t imagine what an encounter with hoards of locusts would be like.
Alaskan here, very aware of our mosquito problem
That is true about mosquitos in Alaska. I believe the Alaskan state bird is the Mosquito. When I was stationed there and saw what looked like smoke from a fire in the distance... It was a swarm of mosquitos covering a huge area.
I used to watch these sorta nature videos to relax and now I can't bring myself to because theyre too depressing
I've never heard it pronounced sicada (Cicada) before. It's pronounced Chicadda everywhere I've been (or Cigale in French). Brilliant video! Scotland is plagued by midges, horrible things. I signed up to curiosity stream in December through Joe, its excellent.
"You guessed it! Frank Stallone!" -Norm MacDonald
I didn't get it. Now I do. Thanks!
I nearly recommended your channel to my science teacher today... If I did this would've been the first video of yours he watched
I live in Vegas and we had a massive locust storm in 2019 that was more intense than anything I’ve ever seen!
Are you sure that wasn't just a couple of busloads of seniors arriving in time for the Early Bird buffet?
"Oh no! Smaller orgies..." is both the silliest and saddest scientific statement I've ever heard XD
What else can be quantified by how much biomass is getting kinky all at once?
I also wonder what Joe's wife might be thinking when he gets all giddy and yells "YAY MASSIVE ORGIES!"
"biomass getting kinky" sounds like a Warhammer 40k reference for some reason....
Pollen, corals...
@@erika002 exterminatus
"What else can be quantified by how much biomass is getting kinky all at once?"
Your mom.
Come on, you provoked it!
Hope I am remembering correctly but I lived in Portland TX for a few years and there was a massive population boom of "love bugs" the year before hurricane Harvey hit.
After this I’m off to google Frank Stallone just so I can get a joke I guess.
Just tried that for about 10 minutes and gave up... lemme know if you figure it out
Mosquitos and Alaska.
My dad used to tell a story. During WWII, his friend was stationed in Alaska. One night, he heard two mosquitos outside his tent.
"Do we want to eat him here or drag him off into the woods?"
"We'd better drag him off into the woods. If we try to eat him here. the big mosquitos will take him away from us."
While they were arguing, he escaped out the back of the tent.
;)
Joe: "Human body. Chances are you have one"
My cat: "Yea, what about it"
Living in north GA, the worst swarms we deal are the tourists driving around looking at leaves changing color every fall. It's a literal nightmare.
Wait... HAS it ever happened?
Don't leave us hanging dangit!
No. They’re prime numbers so the don’t share and multiples.
@@tenkindsofpeople3679 They do share multiples, just no small ones. The two cicada cycles should fall together every 13*17=221 years. The question is: Does this mean a catastrophe every 221 years, or is it irrelevant?
@@renerpho huh. You’re right. I was thinking of the divisors, but it brings up an interesting point: is that 221 a cycle? Meaning from some starting point do they diverge after 221 or would it be like 13x17xn where n is cycle number?
@@tenkindsofpeople3679 If the cycles are perfect then the two would fall together every multiple of 221 years, yes. I'm not sure though if the cicada cycles are truly this stable in nature.
@@renerpho I'm still waiting for this answer!
thank you for boosting my disapproving attitude towards parts of the insect world.
Joe should give "when the cicadas cry" anime series a try, it has a lot of cicada reference.
Congrats on your new show, Joe! 🎉🥳
Subscriber tangent comment: - in th UK crane flies are colloquially known as "Daddy-long-legs"!!
Also in U.S.
@@Richard.Holmquist
Really??? Where in the US do you live? Where I grew up in NY, daddy long legs are large, spindly, spider looking insects that def do NOT fly.
@@caseyjones9114 :You are correct. I grew up in the Midwest, and what we referred to as Daddy-long-legs, like yours in NY did not fly.
In Southern California we call cellar spiders daddy long legs.
A really really really cool video. Thanks a lot Joe!
Two short comments, mosquitoes are a huge problem along Dalälven (Dalecarlia river ... maybe) in mid Sweden and authorities has been granted to use forbidden pesticides.
Second, if we treat swarms like gas molecules in motion, we could theoretically calculated the temperature of that swarm, using quantum mathematics 😎.
Where I live cicadas are coming THIS SPRING!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
good luck my friend. good luck.
I'm glad you've shown me this website, so I know now when to mentally prepare myself for the maddening chirping.
There was a locust species in North America, the Rocky Mountain locust. It could create swarms that dwarfed those of the African Desert locust. It went extinct around the end of the 19th, start of the 20th century as the habitat where its non swarming phase lived was rapidely turned into farmland.
Ngl "Dr. Disney" sounds cool
I have subconsciously associated disney with cartoons and that to me sounds like a cartoon character but cool though
There was a cicada swarm in the Midwest when i was a teen & it was WILD. There were trees where the entire trunk was covered in chirping and movement. Everything outside was crazy loud and you couldnt escape getting swarmed anytime you went outside. We took tennis rackets with us anytime we walked outside. I wish I would've had a video camera to record the sound, nothing quite like it with that many insects.
Hey Joe, have you heard of the "Free energy" graphene circuit developed by the University of Arkansas researchers in October 2020? I would love to see your take on it in the coming weeks.
This is such a good RUclips series.
“Lets talk about midgets”
I’ve actually used that site! I was trying to find the cicada species that populated where I grew up in east texas so I could find recordings of their song to listen to at night. it’s so calming and peaceful, reminds me of summer evenings as a kid.
I‘be seen the worst that mosquitoes can do as regards to blood loss for the first time in my long life one year in a sudden and significant temperature increase right after a prolonged rain. Living in the heart of the vast area which had been known formerly as the “Black Swamp” (before it had been settled and drained more than a century ago). I was living surrounded on 3 sides by a wilderness preserve and right next to a state forest, areas largely unimproved by drainage ditches and left untreated by the normal mosquito control of more populated areas in the region, when there was a sudden surge in mosquito population (at the same time I was laid up by a brief but inordinately potent illness) when 4 of my animals were killed by mosquitoes. I had never seen anything like it! One of the stricken animals I managed to make it to the veterinarian office with when it collapsed in the entrance to the doorway of the hospital. To my shock and horror the vet couldn’t save it and he showed me the poor animal’s nearly white gums. Evidence that the animal had been almost drained entirely of its blood supply. I never would have believed it was possible but my experienced veterinarian recognized the symptoms. Sad to say but it made a lasting impression which I’ll never forget! It happened in an extremely brief period of time which further added to the shock of the whole experience. (Probably less than a full day.)
What I watched: A Video about Insect Plagues
What I expected: The Cause and Effect of Insect Swarms to Human Agriculture and the Environment: An Assessment Study for the Future.
What I got:
*Biomass Orgies.*
(For real though, acquiring swarm intelligence/patterns into human technology such as improving drones or just navigation in general is an interesting topic)
I'm and Okie. Sorry. But I have experienced some of the most incredible and frightening mosquito swarms ever. Often times as a fishermen I like to go out to ponds and rivers after rainfall because it pushes some of the bigger fish down into the deeper waters and concentrates them.
Anway, that also means mosquitos become a serious problem in the warmer months. There was a night where I had been fishing a friend. It was quiet, the water was slightly warm and the air thick with humidity. We had a decent catch and as we started to get ready to camp for the night we heard it. A hum. It grew from the north shore and became slowly louder as we saw a fog bank approach. We didnt quite understand where the noise was coming from because it couldn't be the fog itself.
The first group, the quickest, landed on my exposed arms they laid outside the sleeping bad. That's when my friend immediately yelled "Get into you nap sack now! Close the front" as he proceeded to close the sleeping bags zipper and hid his body. I did my best to follow his lead and got inside my bag.
The noise grew so loud I could no longer hear my heartbeat or my breath. It was a swarm of death. The only thing protecting me from their needles was the down of my sleeping bag.
It was gone as soon as it appeared.
My arm was covered in hundreds of bites, just from the moment before the swarm.