Desert Locust Facts: Diet, Habitat, and Swarms

The Desert Locust, Schistocerca gregaria, is a short-horned grasshopper that can switch from a scattered solitary life to a crowded gregarious phase that forms hopper bands and adult swarms. It eats a wide range of vegetation, including crops and pasture, which is why outbreaks can threaten food supplies. It is one of the best-known locust species because of its ability to migrate and reproduce rapidly when conditions allow.

What Is a Desert Locust?

A Desert Locust is an insect in the grasshopper family Acrididae. It is not a separate kind of animal from grasshoppers; it is a species with an unusual ability to change behavior and appearance when crowded. In low-density conditions, individuals live apart. In high-density conditions, they become gregarious and gather.

FAO lists the scientific name as Schistocerca gregaria. The species has three main life stages: egg, hopper, and adult. Hoppers are wingless young that molt several times before becoming winged adults. Both stages can feed heavily when they occur in dense groups.

Where Do Desert Locusts Live?

During quiet periods, Desert Locusts are mainly associated with arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, the Near East, and southwest Asia. FAO describes a recession area of roughly 16 million square kilometers across about 30 countries. These areas include breeding sites with suitable soil moisture and vegetation after rain.

During major upsurges or plagues, the potential range becomes much larger. Gregarious populations may spread across or into around 60 countries. That expansion does not mean every dry place always has locusts. It means the species can travel and settle far beyond its usual scattered range when breeding and weather conditions line up.

What Do Desert Locusts Eat?

Desert Locusts are broad plant feeders. They eat leaves, shoots, flowers, seeds, fruit, stems, bark, grasses, and crops. Their available food changes by location and season, but a dense population can use natural vegetation and cultivated plants alike.

FAO estimates that one adult consumes roughly its own weight in fresh food per day, about two grams. The number is modest for one insect. It becomes serious when tens of millions of adults occupy one square kilometer. A swarm’s impact comes from the combined daily feeding of a huge population.

How Do Desert Locusts Form Swarms?

Successful breeding after rain can increase local numbers. Once individuals are crowded, phase change pushes them toward group behavior. Hoppers form marching bands; adults form flying groups and then swarms. The process can include changes in behavior, color, body proportions, and reproductive traits.

Not every rain event produces a swarm. Suitable vegetation, soil moisture for egg laying, survival of young, population density, and weather all matter. Monitoring teams look for early signs such as groups of hoppers or adults so that an upsurge can be managed before it spreads.

How Far Can a Swarm Travel?

Gregarious adults usually fly by day and use the wind. FAO reports that swarms can travel from about 5 to 130 kilometers or more in a day, depending on conditions. This movement allows populations to cross borders, reach crops, and find new breeding areas.

They do not fly like a flock that deliberately chooses a single farm. Wind, temperature, vegetation, roosting sites, and the swarm’s condition shape the route. That is why locust forecasting combines field observations with weather data over a broad region.

How Long Do Desert Locusts Live?

Life span and development speed depend strongly on weather. FAO gives a typical total life span of roughly three to five months, while noting that conditions can change it. Eggs may hatch in about two weeks under suitable conditions, hoppers pass through several instars, and adults later mature and lay eggs.

Females place egg pods in soil, usually where moisture is available below the surface. The egg stage makes soil conditions part of the story. A dry-looking region can still provide a suitable site if recent rain has moistened sandy ground at the depth where eggs are laid.

Why Is the Desert Locust Important?

It is a major agricultural pest because it combines rapid population growth, a broad diet, and long-distance movement. USDA Agricultural Research Service describes it as the world’s most destructive migratory insect. That statement reflects the scale of its outbreaks, not danger from direct contact with people.

Research on its genetics, behavior, and ecology supports better monitoring and management. The most useful prevention work happens early, when teams can locate smaller groups or bands before large adult swarms develop.

What Is the Simple Answer?

The Desert Locust is a plant-eating grasshopper that can become a highly mobile swarm-forming pest under crowded conditions. Its normal biology includes eggs in soil, wingless hoppers, winged adults, and a diet that can include many crops and wild plants.

For a closer look at its menu and what the insects target at different stages, read what locusts eat. Diet explains why a swarm is an agricultural emergency rather than merely an impressive insect sighting.

Sources

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Frequently Asked Questions About Locusts”
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “What Are Locusts?”
• USDA Agricultural Research Service, “USDA-ARS Releases Genome of the Voracious Desert Locust”
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Desert Locust Guidelines: Biology and Behaviour”