What are the natural enemies of locusts? These animals are the nemesis of locusts

Locusts harm grass-family plants and are agricultural pests. In nature, their natural enemies fall into two main categories: frogs and birds, especially frogs. Frogs live in the same type of ecological environment as locusts and are their most important natural enemy. In addition, lizards, spiders, mantises and other animals also prey on locusts. Let's take a look at these natural enemies of locusts below!

Frogs

Almost all frogs are natural enemies of locusts. Frogs live in the same type of ecological environment as locusts; wherever there are low-lying areas with reeds and weeds, ponds, ditches and similar places, these are good habitats for them, so frogs are the vanguard force that keeps locust populations in check. According to statistics, one frog can eliminate more than 10,000 pests in a single summer; one rice field frog eats an average of 50 pests per day, with the maximum reaching 266; even the clumsy toad can prey on nearly 10,000 pests over three months in summer. By this reckoning, as long as there is an average of one frog in every 2 sq m of cropland, it is enough to suppress the survival of locust nymphs.

Birds

Birds that eat locusts include the pratincole, the white-winged black tern, the wren and others, with the pratincole being especially prominent. During the chick-rearing stage, locust-eating birds need to prey on even larger numbers of locusts. Taking the common swallow as an example, a pair of parent birds and a nest of chicks can eat more than 16,200 locusts per month.

Lizards

Lizards, commonly known as four-legged snakes or snake's aunt, are distributed all over the world, mostly in the tropics and subtropics. Their living environments are diverse, mainly terrestrial, but also arboreal, semi-aquatic and burrowing in soil. Most feed on insects, and a few species also eat plants. They mainly prey on locusts in spring and summer.

Spiders

Spiders are distributed worldwide except in Antarctica and mostly feed on insects, other spiders and myriapods. To a spider, a locust that blunders into its trap is not much different from a fly or a mosquito; at most it takes a little more effort to wrap it in a few extra layers of silk.

Mantises

The mantis, also called the praying mantis, is an invertebrate and a carnivorous insect. It is an important natural enemy of pests of agriculture, forestry, fruit trees and ornamental plants in China, and can prey on more than 40 kinds of pests, such as flies, mosquitoes, locusts, moths and butterflies and their larvae and exposed pupae, crickets and other small insects, as well as cicadas, migratory locusts, katydids and other large insects.