At the Brookfield Zoo, cicadas are a lot more than just really noisy insects: They’re delicious. These days, a host of animals from bearded dragon lizards to African wild dogs to white-crested laughing thrush birds are enjoying cicadas.
And zoo nutritionists don’t have to worry. Although the cicadas emerging this month may seem like candy to the animals — crunchy on the outside and soft in the center — they’re actually health food.
“They’re extremely nutritious and won’t impact their (animals’) diets because they don’t have a lot of fat in them,” Tim Sullivan, the zoo’s behavioral husbandry manager, said Friday.
In fact, the cicadas are such a welcome addition to the diets of the animals, the zoo is bringing cicadas to the animals living indoors so they can enjoy them too.
“We’ve substituted cicadas for crickets and meal worms that some of the other animals get,” Sullivan said.
The way Sullivan sees it, if the cicadas are going to die in about 30 days even if they do avoid being eaten, a zoo is as good a place as any.
“Getting eaten by exotic animals is a better way to go than being eaten by a squirrel or a crow,” he said.
