Facts you didn’t know about desert locusts

A desert locust

The insect

The desert locust is one of the most destructive insects in the world. They are a threat to the economic livelihood of Kenyans as they have been warned of a second invasion.

Kenya has now been struggling with the worst locust invasion. They are found in the deserts and scrub regions of Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Asia to Western India.

The swarm

A swarm of locust contains about 40 to 80 million locusts that can cover 460 square miles in size. A single swarm can destroy 423 million pounds of plants per day which can feed about 35000 people, 20 camels or 6 elephants in one day.

Insatiable appetite

They have an insatiable appetite where they turn cannibal to each other to death when food runs out.

Serrated jaws

The jaws move side to side to cut through leaves. To hold the leaves they have a pair of secondary jaws and the lower lip.

Locusts are poor flyers

They usually fly at a speed of 16 to 19km/h or more, depending on the strength and direction of the wind. They change behaviours and appearance to suit particular environmental conditions.

Breeding

The females can lay up to 80 eggs at least thrice in their lifetime and moist soils make it favourable for the insects to lay. They breed rapidly depending on the soils environmental conditions. 

They can live for about three to five months depending on weather and ecological conditions.

Their skin

Their skin has three layers, the layer inside the body that is soft and flexible, the harder layer and on the outside a thin layer of wax.

The wax makes the skin waterproof and hence the insecticides used to control them should be dissolved in oils which will penetrate the wax. Unlike other insects, they do not go through a complete metamorphosis thus skipping the pupa stage.

Locusts are good for consumption

A meal composed of locust can prevent cancer diseases. Locusts are rich in phytosterols that control heart-related diseases. Sterols found in the insects have cholesterol-lowering properties thus reducing the risk of heart disease.

According to FAO, they can be a rich source of nutritious supplemental feeding for animals, fish, and fighting cocks.

 

 

 


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