fireflies (you can't make this up volume 12)

do you think it's because of boredom

the hit song

fascination for mating rituals in general

or an over-inflated sense of tourism

that people trek to see fireflies

do what they are created to do?

i mean...it's cool and all

but...

in gatlinburg

anything goes

(this illustrates once again why i can stomach g-burg about once every 5 years. the surrounding mountains though i can handle just about anytime...)

Smokies prepares for flashing bugs
June 02, 2010 04:03 EDT

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) -- The synchronous fireflies in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are just trying to attract each other, but they get a lot of humans as well.

To accommodate the crowds of nature lovers, National Park Service officials have made arrangements to bus in people who come to watch the insects.

From June 5 to 13, the Elkmont entrance road will be closed between 5 p.m. and midnight to all traffic except trollies and registered campers at the Elkmont campground.

Trollies will pick up firefly watchers at the Sugarlands Information Center and take them to see the fireflies, which -- as part of their mating ritual -- flash in simultaneous patterns. The Smokies website says the species is the only one in North America capable of this. The trolly ride costs $1 round trip

(news story credit: foxnews)