Why Do Locusts Swarm?

The locust is the swarming era of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. They are about six inches in length and vary in color from brown to red to green. They have migratory patterns that carry them from North Africa and India to the Middle East. Here, in the United States, the terms locust and grasshopper become interchangeable, as anyone of the Cicada family that swarms, can be considered a locust.

The locust is an insect with an remarkable history of both destruction and sustainability.

It is known throughout the ages as the devourer, as it has destroyed crops en masse, causing food shortages and is even blamed for the legendary plagues of the Bible. What is paradoxical is the fact that these little devourers consume nutritional crops by the boatload, and this makes them great for eating.

The locust is detrimental to the balance of eco-systems. This insect fits beautifully in nature's order, as it is an excellent food source for different types of frogs, birds and lizards. The White's Tree frog, black crows and lizards all feast on these protein-packed winged creatures.

Locusts are considered by many people throughout the world, to be a delicacy. These little bugs have plenty of vitamin D and calcium since they feast freely on sprouts of corn and oat flakes in the fields. They are quite adequate for human consumption.

Locusts do swarm fiercely, in Mauritania in Africa earlier this year, locusts became so numerous that it became a threat to food security in the region. Locusts do not cause famines but they are an important contributing factor to food loss, as locusts literally fly at wind speed, covering up to twelve hundred square kilometers that contain between forty and eighty million locusts per square kilometer. It is easy to see why these would have upset Pharaoh and the Egyptian residents, as indicated in the Bible. The ancient passages in the book of Exodus, illustrate how powerful these voracious little beasts can be. The story of the eighth plague on the Egyptians reveals that within a day or so, the swarms of locusts had ripped right through virtually all of Egypt's food sources. You just don't want to make the Almighty ticked off, or you might find yourself in the middle of a nasty swarm of locusts!

It has been a mystery since biblical times as to why these otherwise, solitary creatures transform themselves into an ominous, noisy cloud that threatens the crops of one tenth of the world's population. The good news is that scientists may have found the reason why.

Apparently, there is a neurochemical found in both the bodies of humans and animals known as serotonin. The chemical switch changes their body and behavior. They go from being brown and docile to yellow/black and aggressive in their new nature. This is the equivalent of a person being on ecstasy, as these otherwise docile creatures become party animals, breeding like crazy and eating like mad. They have detected increased levels of serotonin in the middle part of the locusts body, the part that controls the wings and legs. Scientists may be able to block the action of seretonin by applying these anti-serotonin drugs to the locusts when they are in their solitary state. This finding by researchers from Cambridge and Oxford, may be used as a long-term solution to the massive problem of swarming locusts. Notwithstanding, they will have to find more ways to target larger segments of the locust population first, as well as be able to target the spot on the body of the locust that will hold the drug in place for it to be an effective method of controlling the swarming behavior caused by serotonin.