to enlarge images
Last week, news of a locust plague in Egypt and Israel made headlines around the world. Some news agencies, like The New York Times, wrote about the positive impact of locust swarms on communties—in times of drought, they are a welcome food source. But whenever a story like this hits, comments based in fear and misunderstanding of these insects appear on Twitter and Facebook and become a source of untruths and misinformation.
So, we decided to drop a little knowledge about locusts and their place in the insect world, and in particular, how they compare with other grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids. Check out our video below to learn more about the biology and cool mythology surrounding these animals.
This video was created for the course "Insects and Human Society" in the Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University.
Discussion