One of the most famous and beloved childhood songs for many was "A Grasshopper Was Sitting in the Grass." The children happily hummed a simple motive, learning from simple words that it turns out that the insect is green, that they don’t even mind eating ordinary frogs. But what a grasshopper eats remains a mystery to many of us even in adulthood. As well as what many of the representatives of insects generally eat. Let's learn more about the grasshopper menu together.
This insect is distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica. There are more than 6800 species of grasshoppers of various colors and sizes - from very tiny to giant specimens living in Africa. I wonder what a grasshopper eats of such enormous size?
Those who consider representatives of these species to be entirely herbivores will not be quite right. Because grasshoppers eat not only leaves and grass, although they are also included in the diet of these winged insects. But, as it turned out, it is not without reason that grasshoppers are related to such dangerous creatures as praying mantises. Everyone knows an interesting fact that the female of this insect eats the male after mating. So, we must tell you that eating a grasshopper is far from always vegetarian food. Simply put, many of the representatives of this species are predatory in nature.
What do grasshoppers eat? The basis of their diet is composed of smaller insects, larvae, small butterflies, bugs. A funny story is connected with this passion of their food. Moldovan scientists somehow noticed that on the experimental beds with potatoes, which Colorado beetles were raging on, empty chitinous shells remained from these pests. Naturally, scientists became interested, who eats the main enemies of any agronomist? As it turned out, the thunderstorm of the Colorado potato beetle was the most common gray grasshopper. Thus, unlike the locust related to it, which destroys the fruits of agriculture, this insect brings real benefits. As you can see, the list of what the grasshopper eats includes such a pest as the well-known Colorado potato beetle.
However, it is unlikely that insects are characterized by the concept of ethics in matters of food preferences. A harmless-looking grasshopper, as it turned out, sometimes trades even with cannibalism. In those conditions when it is problematic to get other food, it turned out that grasshoppers and their own kind are eating. It is very easy to verify this: it is enough to put several representatives of this species in a closed container and not to put them any food, and after a few days (three or four) you will miss out on any of them.
So idealizing grasshoppers, considering them cute and harmless representatives of the class of insects, is not worth it. They may well stand up for themselves and occupy far from the last place in the food chain, eating not only grass and flowers, but also other butterfly bugs, not disdaining acts of cannibalism in relation to their own brothers. However, children who are singing a song about a little grasshopper still should not talk about this.
