Science

undeterred

(34,658 posts) Fri May 30, 2014, 10:28 PM May 2014

Swarms of Locusts Plague Madagascar

Madagascar is under attack from unstoppable locust swarms, and fixing it will take an extreme amount of money.

The Malagasy Migratory Locust swarm in Madagascar shows what locals are up against. Credit: UN/FAO emergencies

It's like something out of the Old Testament. Swarms of buzzing, chewing, destructive locusts are eating Madagascar's precious crops. Eating might be too soft a word -- it's more like devouring with unstoppable force. The plague is so widespread and dangerous that 13 million people's livelihoods are affected, according to the United Nations. That's more than half of the country's population.

Damage of a Malagasy Migratory Locust swarm on palm in Madagascar. Credit: UN/FAO emergencies

The UN is implementing a plan to get rid of the locusts, but estimates it will take nearly $44 million to stop and recover from the damage. This in a country suffering from unstable governance and extreme poverty.

http://www.carbonated.tv/news/locust-plague-in-madagascar

Locusts totally creep me out. I can't imagine what this must be like.

Edit: More pics at this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/faoemergencies/sets/72157644348724287/

6 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Swarms of Locusts Plague Madagascar (Original Post) undeterred May 2014 OP

Locust hit us were it hurts the most - food. I feel sorry for the people over there. jwirr May 2014 #1

locusts are a great food source for some cultures nt msongs May 2014 #2

They have giant hissing cockroaches, too. MannyGoldstein May 2014 #3

When I was in middle school, I found out how immensely infested our neighborhood DebJ May 2014 #4

We had them in Ohio when I was a kid. OnionPatch May 2014 #6

How can a locust swarm defacto7 May 2014 #5

jwirr

(39,215 posts)

1. Locust hit us were it hurts the most - food. I feel sorry for the people over there.

Reply to undeterred (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 10:46 PM

May 2014

msongs

(67,438 posts)

2. locusts are a great food source for some cultures nt

Reply to undeterred (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 11:01 PM

May 2014

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)

3. They have giant hissing cockroaches, too.

Reply to undeterred (Original post)

Fri May 30, 2014, 11:24 PM

May 2014

Craziest things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roachies.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_hissing_cockroach

DebJ

(7,699 posts)

4. When I was in middle school, I found out how immensely infested our neighborhood

Reply to undeterred (Original post)

Sat May 31, 2014, 01:36 AM

May 2014

was with 17 year locusts. We had to walk about a mile to school, and every step was crunch, crunch, crunch.
It was unavoidable, as their shed skins covered every inch of grass, sidewalk, and street. They made us go outdoors at gym, and the things would dive bomb us. Once when I was up to bat for softball, an enormous locust landed right on my mouth. Disgusting.

We had a very good share of cicadas in normal years too; very loud. Our cat loved them. She'd swallow them whole and then deliver them to us later on the living room carpet.

I'd really have to be starving to eat one of those things.

OnionPatch

(6,169 posts)

6. We had them in Ohio when I was a kid.

Reply to DebJ (Reply #4)

Sat May 31, 2014, 01:41 PM

May 2014

They come every 17 years. It was just like you described. Gross!

Later, I found out that those are not truly "locusts". What I knew as "locusts" as a child are actually cicadas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas

The locusts in this article are what we know as grasshoppers. That's bad news since, if they were locusts, the plague would last only one season within a period of many years. In this case, the locusts may not just be in Madagascar for a single season like periodic cicadas, but I'm not sure. Just wanted to point out that locusts and cicadas are two different insects.

defacto7

(13,485 posts)

5. How can a locust swarm

Reply to undeterred (Original post)

Sat May 31, 2014, 02:39 AM

May 2014

that's a regularly occurring 6 to 20 years phenomenon be stopped? I've never heard of it. They are both a natural occurrence and a consequence of bad land management.

Madagascar is one of the most beautiful and most damaged places on the planet. Our closest living primate ancestor lives on that island probably blown there in a hurricane eons ago.. the Lemur.

It's a terrible thing when a natural phenomenon gets out of control because of human mistakes, but trying to stop a swarm of locusts conjures up many more stupid mistakes like spraying untold numbers of acres of land with insecticide.

The other thing is relating it to a plague like in biblical terms is not helpful to understanding reality. Many take it seriously and do strange and wicked things to appease some god. The locusts don't damage the earth more the humans do and unfortunately we have to look for a way to balance that Eco system not continue the same practices that are far worse than some bugs do.

Reply to this discussion