Camouflage queen
I found yet another oversized garden muncher on my plants today. She appears to be a female Rain Locust. Definitely female because the males have wings and this one is large and adult and there is no sign of any budding wings. The large round shapes you see are hearing organs. The camouflage is really good although the orange patch is surprising. Usually when insects warn predators that they are toxic, the warning colours are deeper red so perhaps this is just part of the camouflage.
Many locusts are edible and can be roasted as a high-quality protein snack. I don't think I'm that hungry, though. In our changing world, edible insects are often suggested as a good alternative protein source to meat or fish but the human race generally feels a little squeamish about that although termites, giant caterpillars and locusts have always been regarded as good food by rural populations in my country.
A typical defensive stance: tucking the back legs in so as to not show a giveaway grasshopper profile to predators
Hanging out in the Aeoniums
That large abdomen looks pretty full so I suspect that she's ready to lay eggs. I hope my resident snake is nearby, this will make a good meal. My cats won't try her, those back legs have quite a powerful kick and she's a bit big for the average bird and the Ibises have quit hanging out in my garden since I tidied it up and cut the bushes back. So it's all up to the snake.
Too big for the average bird...that's big.
It is. This one is food for a crow-sized bird
She's pretty amazing but she doesn't look tasty to me. I remember reading that as we deplete the animals at the top of the food chain, we have been eating our way lower down. It's most obvious in the oceans.
Pretty much. Or we will all be forced to become largely vegetarian
This one is big and fat! That snake must be sleeping!
Lots of insects are cooked and sold in my country!
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That's true!
🌷😎🙂
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I find insects fascinating. They are versatile and have been around longer than man has. When the Earth has another global extinction, we may not survive it, but I'm sure insects will. I have never eaten a bug, but in survival mode, it's bon apatite.
You don't have to be in survival mode to eat them, it's largely a matter of conditioning
The idea of eating bugs creeps me out. No worms, grubs, ants, or grasshoppers for me . Ugh!
She's really unusual looking! Have you seen your snake around again?
Not since the time I photographed it
A very large locust and so well disguised.
Of course there is a locust is not very familiar.
Probably the locals have little food and they are trying to eat all the insects they can catch.
There are so many big, fat insects in warm parts of the world that people eat them as part of their diet, not because they have little else to eat. Well-cooked insects are good to eat, they are just weird to those who do not eat them
When I was in Vietnam I had to eat exotic dishes such as soup from the nests of swallows, fried grasshoppers, boiled earthworms.
But this is a very unbecoming food for us. Some could not eat, they were bad from one type of this food.