fireflies

The synchronous display of the Photinus carolinus firefly is so mesmerizing that it draws more than 12,000 visitors a year to one of the species’ chief staging grounds in the Elkmont, Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But despite the event’s popularity, many questions remain about how and why the fireflies are able […]

In the Great Smoky Mountains, people are traveling and waiting until dusk to get a glimpse of what some have claimed is a life-changing experience: watching a rare, synchronous firefly light show. “I thought it was a somewhat life-changing event,” Rocky Fork park manager Tim Pharis said to WJHL. “I wait all year long for […]

By Avalon C.S. Owens and Sara Lewis Before humans invented fire, the only things that lit up the night were the moon, the stars and bioluminescent creatures – including fireflies. These ambassadors of natural wonder are soft-bodied beetles that emit “cold light,” using a biochemical reaction housed in their abdominal lanterns. Fireflies mating. Sara Lewis […]

Human activity threatens to make summer nights a little less magical. This is a composite of several long exposure photographs of fireflies in a yard in Milo, Maine, U.S. Mike Lewinski / Unsplash A study published in BioScience Monday set out to assess the greatest threats to the world’s approximately 2,000 species of fireflies. While […]

By Jessica A. Knoblauch Say goodbye to one of the dreamiest things about childhood. In the Midwest, fireflies are dying off. For many Americans, it’s hard to imagine summer nights without the magical glow of dozens of bioluminescent bodies fluttering above the grasses and fields, and lighting up the dark skies above. But the die-offs […]