Little Monsters - Part 25: Hidden in the Grass

These two masters of camouflage are quite similar in appearance. Grasshoppers calmly graze on grass, until they become over populated and morph into a Biblical plague of locusts capable of devouring everything, plant based, in their path.

A young grasshopper halfway through devouring a leaf.

Grasshoppers reproduce rapidly and with great fecundity causing distress to farmers world wide.

Looks rather innocent, with it's light leaf green colour and charming little eyes.

Dried grass is still quite eadible!

In late summer, as the grasses dry up and die, the adult grasshopper's colouration becomes a mix of greys, browns and blacks blending superbly with the sandy gravel.

Not so friendly looking now is it?

The mean looking eye lids, or eyebrows are merely different colour lenses on the grasshopper's eyes, an insect has no need for such eye protection.

If you look closely, you can make out the different facets of the compound eye, a pattern that continues dispite the illusory eyebrows. Similarly, the mouth is at the underside of the face, its dour expression is produced by our human brains seeing patterns, particularly faces, where they don't exist.

Not all grasshoppers share this grim outlook though, some are rather amusing:

This pointy headed variety attains considerable size, yet remains very difficult to spot in the grass. Early in the year, they are a solid green colour, but as their size increases and grass starts drying out, their colour patterns change to match:

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Also, if you like macro photography, check out some of the earlier posts in this series.