Halloween is just around the corner, and if you don't already have your costume prepared, step right this way for some natural inspiration. Check out these creepy crawlies who make their home at the Bronx Zoo, and remain diligently prepared for All Hallow's Eve, all year round. And check out the special "Boo at the Zoo" events all month, which include a maize maze, costume parade and pumpkin decorating (with bears?), and vote for the creepiest bugger on their site. The current winner? It's a dead heat between the African whip scorpion and the Goliath bird-eating spider—vote now! more ›

Cicadas, those buzzing insects that reappear every 17 years, have made an early visit to some parts of Staten Island. The Staten Island Advance reports, "Some of the obnoxiously loud insects have been seen, and heard, in Wolfe's Pond Park in Huguenot and in Great Kills backyards in recent weeks, even though the rest of what is known as Brood II isn't scheduled to arrive until 2013." An entomologist says, "This is the fifth brood where part of it is coming out early. When you have a phenomenon that is that widespread, the most likely candidate is some kind of climate-driven response." The cicadas spend 17 years underground, only emerging to mate—but when they do emerge, it's thousands, if not millions of cicadas at once. See this video from Planet Earth. more ›

The Gothamist Newsmap indicated an "unusual incident"at 75th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan yesterday. The Emergency Service Unit officers responded, but they reportedly "hung back a bit" because the unusual incident turned out to be a swarm of bees! more ›