Desert locust

Schistocerca gregaria

Also calledJarād (Arabic) · Tiddi (Hindi/Urdu) · Malakh (Persian) · Nzige (Swahili) · Arbeh (Hebrew)

A grasshopper that transforms when crowded: it changes colour, behaviour and body shape, and forms swarms that can cover hundreds of square kilometres. A swarm can eat as much in a day as millions of people.

The desert locust is a species of locust in the grasshopper family, Acrididae. A periodically swarming, short-horned bird grasshopper, it is found primarily in the deserts and dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, Arabia, and southwest Asia. During population surge years, its range may extend north into parts of Southern Europe, Eastern Africa, and Northern India. The desert locust shows periodic changes in its body form and can change in response to environmental conditions over several generations. It begins life as a solitary, shorter-winged, highly fecund, non-migratory form, to a gregarious, long-winged, and migratory phase in which it may travel long distances into new areas. Due to this traveling, it may join groups, thus, forming locust plagues. This involves invading new areas where it may consume all vegetation including valuable crops. Although at other times, it may live unnoticed in small numbers in various areas. Wikipedia