Grasshopper

The grasshopper is an insect with long back legs built for jumping. Grasshoppers live on every continent except Antarctica. They are found in grasslands, fields, forests, and gardens. Like all insects, a grasshopper has six legs, three body parts, and two antennae on its head. Most grasshoppers are green or brown, which helps them hide in the plants they eat.

A grasshopper's back legs are its most famous feature. These legs are long, thick, and packed with strong muscles. When a grasshopper wants to escape, it folds its back legs like a spring and snaps them open. The push sends the insect flying through the air. A grasshopper can leap about 20 times the length of its own body in a single jump. Many grasshoppers also have wings and can fly short distances after launching into the air.

Grasshoppers eat plants. They use strong, sideways-moving jaws to chew through leaves, stems, and grasses. A single grasshopper does not eat much. But when huge numbers gather together, they can strip farm fields bare.

This leads to one of the strangest facts about grasshoppers. Certain kinds can change into a different form called a locust. When food is plentiful and grasshoppers crowd together, their bodies begin to change. They grow longer wings, change color, and start acting differently. Instead of living alone, they join enormous swarms. A locust swarm can contain billions of insects and stretch for hundreds of miles. Scientists have known about this change for a long time, but they are still learning exactly how the switch works inside the insect's body.

Grasshoppers are also famous for their music. On warm summer days, males make a buzzing or chirping sound to attract females. Most grasshoppers make the sound by rubbing a row of tiny pegs on their back leg against a hard edge on their wing. Different species have their own songs, a little like different kinds of birds.

A grasshopper starts life as an egg laid in the soil. When it hatches, the young grasshopper is called a nymph. A nymph looks like a tiny adult without wings. As it grows, it sheds its hard outer skin several times. After the final shed, it has full wings and can mate.

Grasshoppers matter to many ecosystems. They feed birds, lizards, spiders, and small mammals. In some parts of the world, people eat them too. Fried grasshoppers are a popular snack in Mexico, where they are called chapulines.