Are you thinking of these insects being particularly chatty? Well, you may not be off the mark. Yes, gregarious locusts are sociable. But they also exhibit a few other characteristics when they are gregarious. Let’s find out more about this.
What are locusts?
Locusts are insects that belong to the grasshopper family, and so, look a lot like grasshoppers. But there are a few crucial differences between them. Among those is the ability of locusts to fly long distances and also invade fields as swans, causing unimaginable damage to agricultural crops. Remember locust invasion in several parts of Africa and India in 2020, reported widely the media? However, locusts are solitary creatures just like grasshoppers, and they come together as swarms only when they are gregarious. Gregarious is a phase that occurs during a locust’s lifecycle.
When do they become gregarious?
During the dry season when there’s not much vegetation around, locusts are forced to come together on small patches of land that has a little vegetation, When that happens, the chemical serotonin gets released in their body. With this they reach the gregarious phase, during which they are sociable. According to National Geographic “Locusts can even change color and body shape when they move into this phase. Their endurance increases and even their brains get larger.” Soon, when it rains, they multiply in large numbers, the place becomes even more crowded, and they start invading agricultural lands in swarms. Reports suggest that the phase is triggered by the need for food.
There are several varieties of locusts that take over large areas of agricultural lands. However, the desert locust is the most dreaded for its country crossing abilities and for polishing off tens of thousands of acres of vegetation.
Picture Credit : Google