What's bugging locusts?

It could be they're hungry -- for each other

Since ancient times, locust plagues have been viewed as one of the most spectacular events in nature. In seemingly spontaneous fashion, as many as 10 billion critters can suddenly swarm the air and carpet the ground, blazing destructive paths that bring starvation and economic ruin.

What makes them do it?

A team of scientists led by Iain Couzin of Princeton University and including colleagues at the University of Oxford and the University of Sydney believes it may finally have an answer to this enduring mystery.

"Cannibalism," said Couzin, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton.

Writing in the May 8 online edition of Current Biology, Couzin and colleagues say that the collective motion of locusts is driven by "cannibalistic interactions."

"Cannibalism is rife within marching bands of locusts," said Couzin. Desert locusts usually feed on vegetation, but individual locusts have been observed to feed on other live locusts or cadavers. This behavior and its effect upon the group, however, have not previously been studied.

"No one knew until now that cannibalistic interactions are directly responsible for the collective motion exhibited by these bands," added Couzin, whose graduate student, Sepideh Bazazi, is the lead author on the paper.

In zoology, cannibalism is defined as occurring when any species consumes members of its own kind.

Young locusts are pressed to eat others when the food supply necessary for supporting the population starts to dwindle. Starved for essential nutrients such as protein and salt, young locust "nymphs" will nip at each other. Those under siege react by running from the aggressors. Others get jittery and simply seek to put space between them and any locust approaching from behind. That's how one aggressive interaction can lead to another and collectively start a vast migration, Couzin said.