Here he was on my kitchen window and I wondered. I looked on the internet and according to the article "Grasshoppers Go Crazy In The Fall" by Donald Lewis, Extension entomologist at Iowa State University Extension. I found it so interesting."It happens every autumn. It is no exaggeration to describe the behavior of some grasshoppers in the fall as crazy. Adult grasshoppers conitnue to feed until they die of old age or are killed by freezing temperatures, whichever comes first. It is in this period of waiting to die that we see the aging grasshoppers eating unnatural foods such as window screens and latex paint. It is after the eggs are laid, after the biological destiny has been fulfilled, after Nature has no further expectations of the grasshoppers that they seems to go crazy. If grasshoppers had thoughts, feelings or human qualities we could imagine this weird behavior is the outcome of senility. Or maybe it is boredom. It might even be revenge for decades of insecticide use. Show some pity. You too will be old someday and may engage in behaviors that others find hard to explain."
4 comments:
Why April,that was so eloquent!
Gosh,down right poetic!
Beautiful
This is quoted from the article "Grasshoppers Go Crazy In The Fall" by Donald Lewis, Extension entomologist, Iowa State University Extension.
oops....better put my readers on
Perhaps it's a form of midlife crisis. Humans buy sports cars and motorcycles :) so why can't a grasshopper eat a few window screens. But it's the end of their journey so that doesn't make sense. So, perhaps they're helping their fellow insect brethren. They are making holes in the screens so the mosquitos can get us. Yep, that's it.
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