by Jeff Thomas, International Man:
The critter in the photo above is an entomologic marvel. The seventeen-year locust (or cicada) appears on the American continent like clockwork every seventeen years. As soon as a locust is born, it burrows in the ground and appears to hibernate for seventeen years. When it emerges, it lives only four to six weeks – just long enough to devastate crops, lay a new batch of eggs, and start the cycle again.