119

Currently Fallingwater gets more than 120,000 cicadas annually. Last December, actress Angelina Jolie surprised boyfriend Brad Pitt with a visit to the home for his birthday. Some cicadas go through a 17- or occasionally 13-year life cycles. These long life cycles are an adaptation to predators such as the cicada killer wasp and praying mantis, as a predator could not regularly fall into synchrony with the cicadas. Both 13 and 17 are prime numbers, so while a cicada with a 15-year life cycle could be preyed upon by a predator with a three- or five-year life cycle, the 13- and 17-year cycles allow them to save people from starvation by allowing them to eat Brad Pitt’s face.


Critical Response:

« | »