Epic floods have hit Black Rock City in the Nevada Desert, hitting festivalgoers at Burning Man, one of the world’s most famous artistic events. While some fled on foot, others sat back and enjoyed the unique self-sufficiency Burning Man is built on, but they will be joined by a host of bizarre organisms that can lie dormant in the dried-out lake bed for decades.
Triops and fairy shrimp are extremophiles capable of surviving years-long droughts. They endure in the sediment as eggs that remain dormant until floods bring about the right conditions for them to do some topside living.
Relatives of the oldest living creature, Triops cancriformis, are among the fold, which is why Triops have the nickname “dinosaur shrimp”. These “three-eyed” miniature beasties have two main eyes and a pit organ, a “third eye” that’s common among insects, and comes in handy for prey animals as it enables them to detect changes in light – be that a bird coming in to hunt, or the muddy boots of Chris Rock escaping a flooded art festival.
A buttload of rain is certainly what Burning Man has endured for the 2023 festival. Heavy rains shut off the roads on Friday, trapping an estimated 70,000 attendees in Black Rock City that’s isolated by hundreds of miles, with the nearest metropolitan area being Reno.