You hear a lot about the potential danger of mass starvation from massive swarms of hundreds of billions of locusts currently roaming Africa. What I’m wondering about is the impact of these swarms on animals which rely on the same food as the locusts eat, e.g. grazing or other herbivorous animals. Are they similarly impacted? Would there be an impact to the population of wildebeest, hippopotamus etc. etc. etc.? (And by extension, the ecosystem generally?)
Never heard anything about this.
You need to read the right sources. It does worry conservationists.
Yes, Wikipedia explains, when grasshoppers become locusts, they begin to eat all vegetation, even types that aren’t their typical food, and that can have a devastating effect on other herbivores they used to live beside. Heck, locusts will eat wool of the backs of sheep, people’s clothes and leather items, I just found out recently. In one year, 12 trillion locusts devastated the Great Plains—and then they went extinct | by Matt Reimann | Timeline