What do Grasshoppers eat?
1021764#34
Grasshoppers eat large quantities of foliage both as adults and during their development, and can be serious pests of arid land and prairies. Pasture, grain, forage, vegetable and other crops can be affected. Grasshoppers often bask in the sun, and thrive in warm sunny conditions, so drought stimulates an increase in grasshopper populations. A single season of drought is not normally sufficient to stimulate a major population increase, but several successive dry seasons can do so, especially if the intervening winters are mild so that large numbers of nymphs survive. Although sunny weather stimulates growth, there needs to be an adequate food supply for the increasing grasshopper population. This means that although precipitation is needed to stimulate plant growth, prolonged periods of cloudy weather will slow nymphal development.
Grasshopper
12560590#4
In 1911, Abraham Isaac Kook, the chief rabbi of Ottoman Palestine, addressed a question to the rabbinic Court at Sana'a concerning their custom of eating grasshoppers, and whether this custom was observed by observing their outward features, or by simply relying upon an oral tradition. The reply given to him by the court was as follows: "The grasshoppers which are eaten by way of a tradition from our forefathers, which happen to be clean, are well-known unto us. But there are yet other species which have all the recognizable features of being clean, yet do we practice abstaining from them. [Appendage]: The clean grasshoppers () about which we have a tradition are actually three species having each one different coloration [from the other], and each of them are called by us in the Arabian tongue, "ğarād" (locusts). But there are yet other species, about which we have no tradition, and we will not eat them. One of which is a little larger in size than the grasshoppers, having the name of "`awsham". There is yet another variety, smaller in size than the grasshopper, and it is called "ḥanājir" (katydids)."
Kosher locust
1021764#12
Most grasshoppers are polyphagous, eating vegetation from multiple plant sources, but some are omnivorous and also eat animal tissue and animal faeces. In general their preference is for grasses, including many cereals grown as crops. The digestive system is typical of insects, with Malpighian tubules discharging into the midgut. Carbohydrates are digested mainly in the crop, while proteins are digested in the ceca of the midgut. Saliva is abundant but largely free of enzymes, helping to move food and Malpighian secretions along the gut. Some grasshoppers possess cellulase, which by softening plant cell walls makes plant cell contents accessible to other digestive enzymes.
Grasshopper
31676370#5
Grasshoppers in general, including this species, are herbivorous and subsist mainly on grasses. Scientists have gained knowledge of the diet of "G. rufus" through the use of feces as a source of DNA. It has been documented to eat plants of the genus "Bromus", the species "Holcus lanatus", and the subfamily Pooideae, all within the family Poaceae. Poaceae is a family of flowering monocots whose members are referred to as true grasses. Pooideae includes lawn grasses and cereals such as wheat and barley. "Bromus" is composed of grasses called brome grasses or cheat grasses. "Holcus lanatus", more commonly known as Yorkshire fog or velvet grass, is a species of perennial pasture grass noted for its hairy texture. The rufous grasshopper has also been known to sparingly eat other plants such as rushes.
Rufous grasshopper
31603372#5
The mottled sand grasshopper is herbivorous, eating 19 to 28 different species of plants consisting of grasses, sedges, and forbs. "Blue grama, needleandthread, western wheatgrass, sand dropseed, witchgrass, and threadleaf" are the main grasses and sedges eaten by the mottled sand grasshopper. Other, less favored grasses and sedges include "sand bluestem, little bluestem, prairie sandreed, buffalograss, hairy grama, junegrass, sun sedge, and baltic rush". Forbs eaten include "kochia, Missouri milkvetch, sand sagebrush, western sticktight, sunflower, redroot pigweed, bracted spiderwort, rusty lupine, western ragweed". They are geophilous, meaning they live and forage on the ground. They may climb up stalks of grass to cut off a piece to eat, but they mostly forage on ground debris. The front tarsi are used to hold the grass while the grasshopper lies horizontally.
Spharagemon collare
1400053#4
Its diet consists of mostly small invertebrates, such as caterpillars, beetle larvae, earthworms, centipedes, slugs, and sow bugs. It will also eat from the corpses of dead animals, and small amounts of seeds or fruits. This shrew will eat its prey whole, but when eating crickets and grasshoppers, the North American least shrew will bite off the head of its prey and eat only the internal organs. When fighting a larger creature, it will aim for the legs and try to cripple its adversary, and will bite lizards, which are often too large for it to kill, on the tail, which then falls off and provides it with a meal while the lizard escapes. The North American least shrew will also sometimes live inside beehives and eat all the larvae. It will often share its food with other shrews. It eats more than its body weight each day and is known to store food.
North American least shrew
3241143#14
The summer diet of Cassin's sparrows consists primarily of insects, especially grasshoppers, caterpillars, and beetles. Additional insects specifically mentioned in the literature include true bugs, ants, bees, wasps, weevils, spiders, snails, and moths. The young are fed almost entirely insects. note that observations of a Cassin's sparrow nest for 18 hours in 1984 showed that of 208 insects delivered to nestlings, 197 (95%) were acridid grasshoppers. However, reported that the stomachs of ten adults taken during the breeding season (late June and early July) contained animal and vegetable matter in about equal proportions (52% and 48%, respectively; range = 5–95%). He also found that five migrant Cassin's sparrow stomachs contained 99% animal material (range = 90–100%). There is a report of Cassin's sparrows eating flower buds of blackthorn bush ("Condalia spathulata") in season. In fall and winter, Cassin's sparrows eat the seeds of weeds and grasses. particularly mentions the consumption of seeds of chickweed (family Alsinaceae), plantain ("Plantago" spp.), woodsorrel ("Xanthoxalis" spp.), sedge ("Carex" spp.), panicum ("Panicum" spp.), other grasses, and sorghum ("Sorghum" spp.).
Cassin's sparrow
350073#31
During the breeding season, the ruff’s diet consists almost exclusively of the adults and larva of terrestrial and aquatic insects such as beetles and flies. On migration and during the winter, the ruff eats insects (including caddis flies, water-beetles, mayflies and grasshoppers), crustaceans, spiders, molluscs, worms, frogs, small fish, and also the seeds of rice and other cereals, sedges, grasses and aquatic plants. Migrating birds in Italy varied their diet according to what was available at each stopover site. Green aquatic plant material, spilt rice and maize, flies and beetles were found, along with varying amounts of grit. On the main wintering grounds in West Africa, rice is a favoured food during the later part of the season as the ricefields dry out.
Ruff
461920#18
Superb fairywrens are predominantly insectivorous. They eat a wide range of small creatures (mostly insects such as ants, grasshoppers, shield bugs, flies, weevils and various larvae) as well as small quantities of seeds, flowers, and fruit. Their foraging, termed 'hop-searching', occurs on the ground or in shrubs that are less than two metres high. Because this foraging practice renders them vulnerable to predators, birds tend to stick fairly close to cover and forage in groups. During winter, when food may be scarce, ants are an important 'last resort' food, constituting a much higher proportion of the diet. Nestlings, in contrast to adult birds, are fed a diet of larger items such as caterpillars and grasshoppers.
Superb fairywren
391081#8
Approximately 50% of the gray catbird's diet is fruit and berries. They also eat mealworms, earthworms, beetles, and other bugs. In summer, gray catbirds will eat mostly ants, beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and moths. They also eat holly berries, cherries, elderberries, poison ivy, bay, and blackberries.
Gray catbird