Illinois, You May Get Squirted By A Lot Of Cicada Pee This Summer

That huge forecast of cicadas for us this year has an added issue.

We've told you about the unparalleled amount of cicadas that experts say will emerge this year. Brood XIII and Brood XIX will be coming out this summer in a rare mass emergence that hasn't happened in 221 years.

Cicadas are a staple of summer, whether you love or hate their loud chirps (which can reach 100 decibels. A motorcycle going right past you is 95 decibels).

The broods coming out in synchronicity this summer means that those songs are going to be super loud and that's not the only issue you'll have to watch for with the bugs.

The Northern Illinois brood is one of the ones getting ready to surface and they have a reputation for being "the largest emergence of cicadas known anywhere". Last time this brood came out, the full emergence of this brood was calculated to be about 1.5 million cicadas per acre in a floodplain near Chicago. Upland, they found about 133,000 cicadas per acre, which is much more normal of a number for cicadas. For reference, a city block is about 3.5 acres. 

What Cicadas Will Do To You

Vets have said it's okay if your dog eats a dead cicada here and there. They're good for the soil, even if they're dead, and can be used as fertilizer. But, as do most things, cicadas really stink when they die.

But they have another trait that is a literal mess.

Experts tell NBC Chicago that cicadas squirt pee at potential predators, which can include humans.

Both periodical and dog day cicadas (the kinds in the broods that will be coming out) do this. Dr. Gene Kritsky of the School of Behavioral & Natural Sciences at Mount St. Joseph University says that as adults, cicadas do drink water then squirt fluid as a defense. That doesn't only include squirting it at humans, but also at birds and squirrels.

Considering trillions of cicadas are coming out this summer and a lot of them are going to be around the Illinois area, it's probably not a good idea to tick off a cicada.