The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog: Festival of the Fireflies

Next month is the annual "Festival of the Fireflies" in the Great Smoky Mountains. to get you "fired" up, I thought I would share a video that was published by the Great Smoky Mountains Association last year. According to the GSMA:

In late spring/early summer fireflies begin their mating in the fields of Cades Cove over a two week period. A few days after mating, a female lays her fertilized eggs on or just below the surface of the ground. The eggs hatch three to four weeks later, and the larvae feed until the end of the summer.

Fireflies are disappearing around the planet, and a lot of it is blamed on the use of pesticides. In Cades Cove, pesticides are not used, so the fireflies thrive.