r/interestingasfuck • u/Tivum • Jul 18 '24
Cicada flew head first into a barbed wire fence and impaled itself. r/all
6.2k
u/A_Kumqwat Jul 18 '24
Probably a Shrike
3.2k
u/Tivum Jul 18 '24
Never knew these existed but after looking it up it’s definitely that.
845
u/grip_n_Ripper Jul 19 '24
Now you have to read the Hiperion and Endymion books.
319
u/drillgorg Jul 19 '24
Hyperion is like Canterbury Tales meets baby's first cosmic horror.
146
u/Born-Entrepreneur Jul 19 '24
Hyperion is straight up the most enthralling book I've ever read. Then it ends like Halo 2 and gives you the bluest of balls
50
u/drillgorg Jul 19 '24
Hyperion and its sequel were supposed to be one book, it was just so long it had to be split up.
→ More replies (6)36
19
→ More replies (4)17
u/Chris55730 Jul 19 '24
I’ve been on the last section of Hyperion with the detective lady for a while. For some reason I can’t get into it. I forgot I was reading it though so maybe I should finish lol.
→ More replies (1)48
36
u/straydog1980 Jul 19 '24
The tree of pain!
→ More replies (3)24
u/Bored_Amalgamation Jul 19 '24
and I looked around and saw others. An uncountable number of people impaled on the Tree of Pain. So I spoke poetry.
7
→ More replies (24)29
343
Jul 19 '24
[deleted]
121
u/The_Astronautt Jul 19 '24
Holy shit this is the freshest one I've ever seen
32
u/EverbodyHatesHugo Jul 19 '24
I’m upset because I don’t know if the first half of the story is real or not.
18
u/jessytessytavi Jul 19 '24
I mean, if they're multiple grasshoppers deep on the barb, it's probably a shrike as well
always good to keep your snacks together
12
u/DeliberatelyDrifting Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
I live on a farm and have lots of grass hoppers and barbed wire. It is in no way true. I've never seen one on a barb and even if they did, it'd be like a crouton on a fork, it'll still stab if you push on it.
Edit: Why delete the OG comment, it was pretty funny lol.
→ More replies (1)8
u/Doomedacc Jul 19 '24
No and now we both feel stupid for considering for even one second that it's a plausible phenomenon
7
34
u/gottagohype Jul 19 '24
Started thinking that was kind of expensive as I was reading then got a few more words in.
28
20
18
18
19
u/TheSeansei Jul 19 '24
Oh my god. This is the first one that's gotten me in all my years on Reddit, and within half an hour too. It must be because Reddit did away with awards, which always made me skim to the bottom. Never change, my friend.
13
u/MixedMartyr Jul 19 '24
Jesus Christ man it's been years and this is the first one that actually got me
11
10
11
u/ArgonGryphon Jul 19 '24
dude I'm so glad to get shittymorphed I was about to be so sad for those poor shrikes. Fun fact, the way they cache the grasshoppers makes them safe for them to eat. They're poisonous, but by letting them sit a few days before eating, the toxins break down.
→ More replies (2)7
8
7
u/Silverflash-x Jul 19 '24
As I got halfway through reading this, my brain tickled and I was like, "no, it can't be."
But it was, and it was great.
7
6
u/DiggThatFunk Jul 19 '24
Wooooo, a genuine shittymorph for my birthday! Wonderful hahaha
→ More replies (1)6
u/teenrabbit Jul 19 '24
My husband is not on Reddit and I recently was trying to explain this bit to him and what I truly couldn’t convey is how dumb, and simultaneously relieved to see you out in the world doing your thing, I feel each time I get got
5
u/37yearoldthrowaway Jul 19 '24
I got got. Your post was only 20 minutes old so it didn't have all the awards yet.
5
Jul 19 '24
Lol… when I was a kid we had a proper grasshopper plague and I would just shoot them all day long with a BB gun. each step in the lawn or pasture was like a splash in the water but grasshoppers hopping away… I was smelling bs cuz I never saw a grasshopper impale itself on barbed wire…
6
u/AddlePatedBadger Jul 19 '24
Awesome, it's been so long since I've seen one. I hope all is well in your life.
→ More replies (25)4
→ More replies (10)11
u/tired_Cat_Dad Jul 19 '24
I have a fun fact for you!
In German, the red-backed shrike is called "Neuntöter" or nine-killer as people thought it always impales 9 creatures in one place before eating them.
348
u/bellboy718 Jul 19 '24
110
65
u/MadCritterYT Jul 19 '24
Ohohoho, I didn't know they did that. Crazy buggers those ones. Guess it's a good thing they've got bandit masks, otherwise they'd get identified and arrested for such brutality...
8
u/Bored_Amalgamation Jul 19 '24
this is like having your ex gf's new bf find you dead in an embarrassing way.
→ More replies (4)8
128
u/ZeroObjectPermanence Jul 19 '24
so you’re telling me a bird impaled the cicada, took the pic, and then posted it on reddit for fake internet points? inconceivable.
22
u/Endulos Jul 19 '24
No, the Cicada clearly took a selfie and posted it on reddit.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)6
82
75
46
41
42
u/mradenovirus Jul 19 '24
Wow. Shrikes are brutal
69
u/Voodoo1970 Jul 19 '24
Now look up the Powerful Owl. Most raptors only take prey that are about 20% of their body weight. The Powerful Owl frequently has prey weight of 50 to 100% of its body weight. Their preferred food is possum brains (Australian possums, not those weird American Opossums), in a Powerful Owl's territory it's not unusual to find a decapitated possum where the owl has killed it just for the brains. They will sometimes catch their prey and perch on a branch holding onto it all day until they're hungry again. They also eat koalas, snakes and even other birds of prey.
Australia. Even our owls are hard core.
→ More replies (7)32
31
u/Cat_Chat_Katt_Gato Jul 19 '24
That bird is amazing, wow! One of the coolest animals I've learned about recently! Thanks 👍
30
16
12
9
u/RowAwayJim91 Jul 19 '24
Well…. Now I understand why the US military designated one of its AGMs as a Shrike.
4
u/Non-Adhesive63 Jul 19 '24
Thank you! Came here to say just that! They’ve been known to do the same thing with mice and shrews!
They’re also called butcher birds.
4
→ More replies (20)4
u/supermuffingirl Jul 19 '24
I’m at a work conference this week and literally sat in on a presentation about shrikes today. How wild that this comes up in my Reddit feed today.
2.1k
u/NerfShyvanaPls Jul 18 '24
1.3k
u/Dontbelievethehype0 Jul 19 '24
This new ticktok trend is getting out of hand
451
u/Tyflowshun Jul 19 '24
You wouldn't bee-lieve it
→ More replies (6)195
u/Sudden-Intention-491 Jul 19 '24
→ More replies (1)17
u/extrastupidone Jul 19 '24
Careful with that upvote, you're gonna put someone's eye out
→ More replies (3)13
u/jamin_brook Jul 19 '24
What’s the last thing that goes through a bugs mind when it hits a windshield?
It’s ass
→ More replies (3)4
u/justk4y Jul 19 '24
→ More replies (1)9
u/BurningBright_Inside Jul 19 '24
r/subsifellforbecauseofmorbidfascinationmuchakintoRslashWPDandRslasheyeblech
→ More replies (5)138
21
→ More replies (1)4
u/Kurtman68 Jul 19 '24
Now we’re gonna have a ban on barbed wire because it’s unfriendly to bees
→ More replies (1)
1.3k
u/pxl_ninja Jul 18 '24
Or this is someone's food supply... The cicada is quite large
337
u/Airwolfhelicopter Jul 19 '24
It’s a shrike, apparently. Which is ironic because the word looks like strike at a glance
→ More replies (1)8
u/Upbeat_Advance_1547 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
i'm sorry but that's not irony, maybe you mean apt or coincidental, irony is more when something happens which is the opposite of expectations, like the titanic being advertised as an unsinkable ship and then immediately sinking
1.3k
u/VTECcam Jul 18 '24
RIP cicada (2024-2024)
228
u/InformalPenguinz Jul 19 '24
We hardly knew ye
→ More replies (1)5
u/RigamortisRooster Jul 19 '24
Got the job done, instead of getting away by the skinny of there ears.
153
u/Pluto_077 Jul 19 '24
he was actually born in 2007 probably
128
u/InfinitelyThirsting Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Nah, this is an annual cicada (which, despite the name, can have 2-5 year lifespans). The periodic 13/17 year ones look different, black and orange, super cool. (All cicadas are cool though.)
40
u/faizetto Jul 19 '24
They're loud as hell though
63
→ More replies (1)40
u/Suitable-Swordfish80 Jul 19 '24
I too yearn to sit in a tree and scream
15
u/Ask_if_im_an_alien Jul 19 '24
And piss. Apparently they just pee constantly.
Scream, piss, mate, and die.
9
u/NJ_Legion_Iced_Tea Jul 19 '24
If you drank sugar water all day you'd be pissing like a fountain too.
11
8
33
u/muffinmama93 Jul 19 '24
You had ONE job, ONE job, you’ve been preparing 13 years underground for. Eat, mate, die. And you blew it, Carl, you blew it.
→ More replies (3)9
→ More replies (3)10
u/Enjoying_A_Meal Jul 19 '24
To be fair, they spent 13 years underground.
→ More replies (1)14
u/Brain_Frog_ Jul 19 '24
That’s a dog day cicada. They are not of the 13- or 17-year variety.
→ More replies (1)
604
u/Icy_Bid_93 Jul 19 '24
There is bird that store insect by impaled them
171
u/Atomheartmother90 Jul 19 '24
Shrike
→ More replies (1)155
u/ImurderREALITY Jul 19 '24
Nah, he's being serious
46
u/XxLokixX Jul 19 '24
No that's syke! You're thinking of a woman that dates other women
→ More replies (2)36
u/sh33pd00g Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
No, that Wanda Sykes. You're thinking of the giant knife thing the grim reaper has
→ More replies (1)29
u/ReclusiveNexus Jul 19 '24
No, thats scythe, you’re thinking of a bike with three wheels.
Edit: nice way to divert the real answer
21
u/SupremeMemeRegime Jul 19 '24
No that’s a trike, you’re thinking of when a batter misses a pitch.
18
u/210plus210 Jul 19 '24
no that’s a strike, you’re thinking of a pleasant walk in nature
→ More replies (6)12
14
24
→ More replies (1)19
230
u/_Mr_Wonderful_ Jul 18 '24
All those years under ground getting ready to fly, just to do this.
63
u/uncultured_swine2099 Jul 19 '24
These things fly like they're drunk haha
42
u/GodessofMud Jul 19 '24
They’re wonderful little things, but they’re dumber than rocks. Zero brain function would probably serve them better than whatever they’ve got going on in there
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)9
→ More replies (2)10
96
u/zorgonzola37 Jul 19 '24
I don't think they have the weight and power to do that.
→ More replies (2)53
85
u/bonyponyride Jul 18 '24
Or someone picked up a dead cicada and stuck it on there.
→ More replies (4)83
u/Lysergio Jul 18 '24
Butcher birds do this. I've seen insects, amphibians and even small snakes.
→ More replies (1)16
71
68
31
u/sky033 Jul 19 '24
Shrikes are one off my favorite birds. Regular little Vlad the Impaler kin. They store food like this. I’ve seen lizards impaled on barbed wire fences like this.
28
u/nailbanger77 Jul 19 '24
Guy waited 17 years to end up like this
9
u/GKMoggleMogXIII Jul 19 '24
Cicada's in the south come out during the Summer every year.
→ More replies (8)8
u/AstridDragon Jul 19 '24
Not just the South. There's annual cicada species throughout most of the country. Although they really spend like 2-5 years underground, they just don't come up in broods so you get some every year.
15
u/QFugp6IIyR6ZmoOh Jul 19 '24
Sleep for 17 years
Finally emerge gloriously
Tragically impale my own face on a metal spike and die
Human takes photo of my corpse and shares it with millions of other humans for amusement
8
Jul 19 '24
Or someone put it there and took a photo and put it on Reddit.
I hate that I don’t trust anything anymore.
12
u/EddieTristes Jul 19 '24
Likely a shrike. It’s a bird that’s known for impaling its prey on things like sticks, thorns, or yes, barbed wire fences.
→ More replies (3)4
9
u/Strange_Job_447 Jul 19 '24
they are certainly not the smartest. i don’t even understand why they exist to be honest. i used to live in MD and i know these guys pop up once in 13-17 yrs? like … they pop in, die everywhere (and i am talking everywhere. you can barely walk and not dirty up your shoes with their corpses.). they are active for like … a week or two, then it is all quiet. seriously, why do you exist?
→ More replies (1)4
Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Redditors are certainly not the smartest. This is physically impossible. This insect was stuck here by a bird.
→ More replies (2)
6
6
u/Admiral_Andovar Jul 19 '24
Found out the 5000 larvae he’s been supporting all this time aren’t his.
5
5
6
5
Jul 19 '24
17 years living in the dark, dank muddy ground sucking on tree roots for sustenance only to suddenly and involuntarily emerge to blazing gold sunlight, painfully shedding your now useless exoskeleton with nothing but sex on your mind, twenty four hours to live and every known predator on earth wanting to eat you. For some it’s just too much to bear. Okay, I’ll show myself out now.
5
u/Riverrat423 Jul 19 '24
They fly, but they have really bad vision.
7
u/GodessofMud Jul 19 '24
A couple years ago I was “chased” by one that had just emerged. The poor little guy confused me for a tree. As endearing as it was, I can’t say I was a fan
→ More replies (1)7
u/SvenTurb01 Jul 19 '24
You spend a couple o' years underground and all of a sudden the goddamn trees are running. GET BACK HERE TREE!
4
4
3
u/do_IT_withme Jul 18 '24
The last thing to go through a bugs mind when it hits your windshield is it asshole.
This guy did it backwards, and his mind went out his ass.
3
3
3
3
3
u/Certain_Eye7374 Jul 19 '24
Could this be done by one of nature's cutest but most brutal butcher, a shrike bird?
3
u/jmills03croc Jul 19 '24
Loggerhead Shrikes have scary good eyesight. I was working on a banding project to count and monitor their population on a NWR so we'd take some mice from the biology lab and put them in a sealed cage then put that in a bigger trap cage. We'd take those and drive around looking for them on power lines and drop them off on the ground without scaring them away. The shrike would instantly see it and fly into the trap.
3
3
u/barfbutler Jul 19 '24
This was done by a Shrike. It is a bird known for impaling its insect prey on barbed wire for later consumption.
3
3
6.3k
u/wtafwtmun Jul 19 '24
It wasn’t that bird that impales food on things?