After living in New York City, cockroaches are my least favorite! But grasshoppers come in a close second. When I was young, my mother took me and my sister to a community wading pool on a hot summer day. I was just sitting there minding my own business with my toes in the cooling water when a huge flying grasshopper came along and landed right on my nose; its little beady eyes staring right into mine! I was so startled that it took a few seconds to register and then I let out a scream and was too traumatized to brush it off. I think I either did finally get it off my nose or maybe it just jumped off by itself, but ever since then I've hated them! Maybe part of it is their leaping ability (did you know they can jump up to 20 times the length of their own body?) and never knowing where they're going to land. Plus a few years later I had a nightmare of being surrounded by thousands of them. Then, of course, there's the crunching sound they make if you step on one!
Source: Wikipedia
In high school for biology class we had to go out in the field behind the school and catch our own grasshoppers to dissect. I did manage to catch one. During the lecture our teacher, Mr. Day, gave before we started the lab, I was able to really examine one close up while it was sitting in the jar. I got really curious and was enjoying the experience until all of a sudden it jumped. I let out a small scream and dropped the jar on the table. Luckily it didn't break, but everybody in class turned around and looked my direction to see what the problem was. I wanted to crawl under the table. But Mr. Day just looked in my direction and kept right on going with his lecture in his quiet monotone. At least I was grateful that he didn't make a big deal out of my indiscretion.
When I started this post, I certainly didn't think I'd find pictures of grasshoppers that are actually pretty. But look at this rainbow grasshopper that lives in the central plains - from southern Saskatchewan to Colorado down to Texas.
Source: Wikipedia
I certainly never saw any of these guys when I lived in Colorado.
There are several thousand different species of grasshoppers and they live all over the world. They eat most leaves, grasses and some crops and can be very destructive. In some areas, people eat them as they are good sources of protein. NO THANK YOU!
I really do love and/or tolerate nearly all creatures. However, I don't know that I will ever change my mind about grasshoppers!l
You think that's bad ...
ReplyDeleteLast week when we were out in the cabana by the pool I saw a katydid coming towards us. I've only seen one other one in the 5 years we've been here and they didn't exist in CO. Anyway,,,,,, I picked it up on my finger to show it to Rick and the darn thing BIT me! It startled me so much that I tossed my finger and it landed on my bathing suit on my chest with its ultra sticky legs and wouldn't come off! Finally I got Rick to pry it off without hurting the stupid thing. I won't be picking anymore up right away! I didn't realize they had teeth! Ugh. (They are in the grasshopper family to make this story relevant.) :)