Every year for two weeks between mid-May and mid-June, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/cong/fireflies.htm"target="_blank" >Congaree National Park</a> in South Carolina is home to a fairy-tale-like display of flashing lights. These rhythmic performances happen all because of thousands of fireflies, flashing their belly lanterns at exactly the same time. According to the National Park Service, there are just three species of these synchronous fireflies in North America, making the experience all the more magical for the lucky visitors who get the chance to see them. (encore) This story was originally reported for NPR by science correspondent <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/729920828/pien-huang"target="_blank" >Pien Huang</a>. Read Pien's full story <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/05/24/g-s1-935/synchronous-fireflies-congaree-endangered"target="_blank" >here</a>. Want more of the science behind wildlife wonders? Email us at <a href="mailto:shortwave@npr.org"target="_blank" >shortwave@npr.org</a>. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/shortwave"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org/shortwave</a>. Today's episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Berly McCoy. Pien checked the facts. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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The magic — and science — of synchronous fireflies

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