Hobbies And Interests
Growth cycle
In grasshoppers' growth, from egg to adult, there is no drastic physical metamorphosis: they emerge from the eggs, wingless, identical to the adult but in miniature size (nymphs). They mature through molts (periodic shedding of cuticle).
Stridulation
The chirping sound in grasshoppers is produced by stridulation: by friction between the hind legs and the tympanal organs on their abdomen (these organs also serve for hearing). Only the male produces sound signals used to attract the female, and their stridulating sound is a unique identifier of each grasshopper species.
Locusts
Locusts comprise several species of grasshoppers in Africa, and sometimes, depending on the climate, they form swarms (a single swarm could easily contain billions of locusts) and can cause terrible damage to crops. Paradoxically, the climate conditions ideal for this to happen are the same conditions favorable for farmers to grow a good harvest.
Swarms
In 1988, West Africa was invaded by swarms of locusts, causing significant damage to crops. Surprisingly, many of these swarms were able to cross the Atlantic Ocean and reached South America in only 10 days. According to Greg Sword (Research Ecologist with the U.S Department of Agriculture), the most likely hypothesis to explain this is that as millions of locusts died along the way, they served as rafts of dead insects, and this provided a landing mat and a source of food and energy for the others to continue.
The Bladder Grasshopper
The Bladder Grasshopper (Pneumorids) are only found in Africa. The majority of these species are limited to the South Africa and can be easily recognized by their inflated abdomen on the males. This serves as an amplifier for their stridulating sounds. Their sound can be so loud, it can be heard from almost 2 km away.
Grasshoppers and Vegetation
Vegetation is directly linked to the type of grasshoppers found in Africa, since the vegetation type describes the grasshopper's preferred habitat. There are five major vegetation types in South Africa: bushveld (found in sub-tropical regions in South Africa), karoo (an arid to semi-desert geographic region of South Africa), grasslands, forested regions and fynbos (where shrub vegetation is abundant).