One of the most beautiful and brightly coloured insects in the area is the elegant grasshopper. They are common throughout most of South Africa.
They are generally flightless and can grow to about 9cm in length. The elegant grasshopper can become quite a pest to agricultural crops and even garden plants as they pretty much eat anything.
As with most other brightly coloured insects, their colours are a warning – touch at your own risk. If threatened they excrete a fowl smelling liquid that can be hard to wash off.
Given their stinky disposition, they do not have many enemies, making it possible for their numbers to explode during summer months. However, certain tribes in Africa turned these grasshoppers into an edible delicacy.
If you would like to contact Warren Dick to have your interesting spiders, snakes or other wildlife identified, send a WhatsApp or call him on 072-211-0353. Visit his Facebook page called, Warren’s Small World.
