You’d think that by now little in terms of wildlife would be left in the Tokyo urban desert. However, certain forms of hearty wildlife seem to be adapting quite nicely to the realities of the modern world.

Just a short while ago, we heard that high-speed Internet service in some areas of Tokyo is being interrupted by crows that are stripping fiber-optic cable for nesting material. One expert even surmised that stripping cables might be a way for crows to relieve stress during the mating season.

According to Tokyo Electric Power Co., which has a fiber-optic network stretched across power poles in the greater metropolitan area, crows damaged cables in 689 cases last year. The number increases especially in March and April, when crows collect twigs and other material for nest-building for the breeding season. This year, 407 cases have been noted over just two months.

Now we get word that cicadas are also causing problems by laying their eggs in the insulating material of fiber-optic cables.

[The cicadas] usually lay eggs by using their ovipositors to pierce tree branches. However, in urban areas, where the cicadas have been increasing in number, they have instead been depositing their eggs into fiber-optic cables.

Data transmission is interrupted even by slight damage to fiber-optics. Although this only affects the users of the specific lead-in cable, and can be easily recovered by changing cables, telecommunication firms are usually unaware of the problem because people mistake data traffic disruption for busy lines or even computer malfunctions.

As my friend Hunter Brumfield said, maybe the crows are pecking at the cables in order to get at the cicada eggs. That would make the question: Which came first, the crow or the egg?