Desert Locust
Schistocerca gregaria
Desert Locust: The Glow-Up Crop Crasher
This desert grasshopper throws epic shape-shifting parties that turn shy loners into bold swarm ravers—watch out for your veggies!
- Home Range
- 16M km² recession belt, swells to 32M in plagues
- Size
- 4.5–6 cm long, 11–18 cm wingspan
- Daily Appetite
- Own body weight (~2g) in plants
- Swarm Density
- 40–80 million per km²
- Lifespan
- 3–6 months (up to 12)
- Boom Factor
- 10–16x population growth per generation
Glow-Up Game
Crowding sparks a wild phase change: green introverts morph into yellow-and-black party animals with new shapes, vibes, and even scents—all from leg bumps. Instant festival mode!
Swarm Buffet
Voracious eaters munch anything green, downing their body weight daily. One km² swarm equals 35k people's food needs and rides winds 150 km a day, even crossing oceans.
Fun facts about Desert Locust
- From wallflower to rave king in a few molts—just add neighbors and stir.
- These guys snack like they're training for a veggie-eating contest across continents.
- Edible, nutritious, and basically flying protein bars if you're brave enough.
Locust vs Praying Mantis
Praying mantis wins by ambushing and grasping the locust with specialized forelegs before it can escape.
In grassy edges where mantises hunt among stems, a locust landing nearby triggers the mantis to strike with lightning speed. Its spined raptorial legs pin the locust while powerful mandibles begin feeding. The locust’s powerful jumps and wings offer little defense once captured. Locust swarms sometimes overwhelm individual predators through sheer numbers, yet a single mantis can dispatch several before retreating. Habitat overlap at meadow borders makes such encounters realistic, with the mantis’s camouflage giving it the decisive first strike. The mantis’s predatory lifestyle and superior grasping tools consistently prevail over the locust’s escape tactics in one-on-one meetings.
Read more about European Mantis.
Featured in the Field Journal
More Insecta animals
- European Mantis
- European Stag Beetle
- Florida Harvester Ant
- German Yellowjacket
- Glasswing Butterfly
- Japanese Honey Bee
Insecta · Grassland · Cost 2