EATING MACHINES

Where are grasshoppers’ ears?

While they look harmless to us today, grasshoppers have been a terrifying threat for farmers and the agriculture industry as a whole because of their ability to devastate food crops. Grasshoppers have an enormous appetite relative to their size. An average grasshopper can consume 16 times its own weight in food. Their favorite foods include grasses, leaves, and cereal crops. Grasshoppers can quickly strip vegetation and damage vast areas of crops. Grasshoppers also have unique bodies, with strong legs that can leap 20 times their body length and create music by rubbing against their wings. Grasshoppers also have a unique auditory structure, called the tympanal organ, on their stomachs.