Study Shows What Makes Locusts Swarm

Study Shows What Makes Locusts Swarm

uk.reuters.com

LONDON (Reuters) - A brain chemical that lifts people out of depression can transform solitary grasshoppers into swarming desert locusts, a finding that could one day help prevent the devastating plagues, researchers said on Thursday.

Increases of serotonin, the nerve-signaling chemical targeted by many antidepressants, appears to spark the behavior changes needed to turn the normally harmless insects into bugs that gang up to munch crops, they said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The article goes on to say

"Our paper shows how this change in behavior changes what are essentially large grasshoppers living in the desert into swarming, destructive pests," said University of Cambridge researcher Stephen Rogers, who worked on the study.

"For a swarm to develop the locusts must transform from a solitary phase into a gregarious phase."

And then drops this shocker on us...

"The gregarious phase is a strategy born of desperation and driven by hunger, and swarming is a response to find pastures new," he said.

This is basically Insect Mob Mentality

uk.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

lol man thats so cool

star and flag for the mob instects haha

do humans do it? "swarm"?

I don't have a link to anything but I remember a video or tv show about locusts.
They are green and calm until they congregate and get crowded. The physical stimulus of rubbing their legs against each other triggers the chemical changes that this thread is talking about.
They actually took a green grashopper and stroked its legs with a small paintbrush and he changed colors to the common pattern seen in swarming locusts.
Interesting thread.