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Sticker of Migratory locust
Bug card No. 0925 of 1,500

Migratory locust

Locusta migratoria
Eats: PlantsGrasshoppers and cricketsGardens and meadows6 legs

The migratory locust is a big grasshopper that lives in more of the world than any other locust. When there are only a few, it lives alone and is green or brown. But when there are lots of them, they change colour and fly together in giant swarms.

Lives in
Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, in grassland and fields
Length
4 to 6 cm (1.6 to 2.4 in)
Top speed
about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It cannot sting, but a big swarm can eat a farmer's crops.
What does it eat?
It eats grass and other green plants. One locust can eat its own weight in fresh food every day.
For real!Photo of Migratory locust
Picture by Jonathan Hornung. CC BY-SA 2.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Migratory locust about 6 cm long (2.4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 2 toy building bricks in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 0.3 secondsmoves 60 times its own body length every second

How big is Migratory locust compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

A swarm can have millions and millions of locusts and cover hundreds of square kilometres.

2

Locusts fly with the wind and a swarm can travel more than 100 kilometres in one day.

3

A million locusts together eat about a ton of food every day.

4

Locusts living in a crowd look different from those living alone, and they even act differently.

5

In Europe it is now allowed as food for people, and you can eat it frozen, dried or ground.

you asked

Most asked questions about Migratory locust

?What is the difference between a locust and a grasshopper?

A locust is a kind of grasshopper that can change when there are many of them and fly together in huge swarms.

?What does a migratory locust eat?

Green plants and grass. It can eat its own weight in food every day.

?How big is a migratory locust?

A grown-up locust that lives in a swarm is about 4 to 6 centimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Locusta migratoria
Named by
Linnaeus, 1758
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Acrididae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Acrididae
Lives on
Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Migratory locust (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Jonathan Hornung. CC BY-SA 2.0 de, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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