Grasshoppers - Information for learners

What hops and eats grass? Yes a grasshopper.... lets learn more about this insect/

Is there a difference between a grasshopper and a locust?

Locusts and grasshoppers are the same in appearance, but locusts can exist in two different behavioural states (solitary and gregarious), whereas most grasshoppers do not.

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These insects can cause a lot of damage to crops and fields. One grasshopper can eat up to half of its body weight, now can you imagine is thousands of locust come together in a swarm and start eating the crops? In America they cause damage each year of up to 1.5 billion dollars.

There are many kinds of grasshoppers all over the world, 11 000 or more. That is a lot.

If you look at the grasshopper, you will see at the top of the head there are 2 antennae, it also has 6 legs (the back legs are strong so that it can use it to jump), two pairs of wings and at the bottom of the mouth there are some pinchers to tear pieces off the plant.

The mouth of a grasshopper consist of different parts with different functions.

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• Do your own research on the different pieces of the mouth and also compare it to the mouths of other insects.
• Find a picture of what the wings of a grasshopper look like

Some kinds of grasshoppers will make a noise by using their wings or rubbing their back legs against their bodies. This is used many times to call other grasshoppers during mating season.

Depending on where you find a grasshopper, will determine the colour. They are coloured in such a way to be easily hidden from their predators. If they live in areas with trees and grass, they will be green and the ones living in the desert or sandy areas will be brown.

A grasshopper can jump high and far. If we could jump the same relative to our size, we would be able to jump the length of a rugby field. Grasshoppers can jump 25 cm in the air and about 1 m forward.

The grasshopper can jump as far as it does because its hind legs act like miniature catapults. It bends its legs at the knee, mechanism within the knee works like a spring, storing up energy. When the grasshopper is ready to jump, it relaxes the leg muscles, allowing the spring to release flinging it into the air.

The female grasshopper lies eggs and when the babies hatch, they look like the adults, except they do not have wings. They shed their skin a few times and grows bigger. This cycle it goes through from egg to adult is called incomplete metamorphosis.