In the south of France, new cicadas can be heard every year as their life cycle is short, and a new generation of cicadas is ready to emerge from the ground every summer. Elsewhere, some American species follow periodic cycles and only appear every 13 or 17 years when they all come out simultaneously. Such behavior would protect them from predators with particular cycles extending beyond a year. In the image: Gérard Filippi, entomologist and nature expert, founder of Microland Association