Eugene Kingbury, age 10, of Traverse City, Mich., for his question:
HOW FAR CAN A GRASSHOPPER HOP?
Grasshoppers are insects that can be found in most parts of the world except in the cold regions near the North and South poles. They can hop about 20 times as far as the length of their bodies. This means that a three inch grasshopper can leap 60 inches, or five feet.
If man had the grasshopper's ability to leap far, a six foot man would be able to jump 120 feet.
Grasshoppers are pests. In the western part of the United States they damage more than $30 million worth of crops every year. Farmers are constantly at war with the grasshoppers with chemicals that kill the insects.
A grasshopper has six legs and uses all of them when he walks. The front legs hold food when the animal eats. The hind legs are much longer and stronger than the others, and have powerful thigh muscles. It is these thigh muscles that supply the force when the insect wants to go forward in a leap, or when he shoots himself into the air to fly.
Long horned grasshoppers have threadlike antennae that may grow longer than the insect's body. They include katydids and Mormon crickets.
Many long horned grasshoppers are green, but some are black, brown or gray. Most kinds live on the ground.
Male long horned grasshoppers "sing" to attract their mates. They rub the bases of their front wings together and special areas of the wings vibrate and make a loud sound. Different species have their own special songs.
Short horned grasshoppers, known as locusts, have shorter, thicker antennae than the long horned type. Locusts sometimes suddenly increase in number, form large swarms and migrate. But no one knows exactly why this happens.
Wherever the swarms of locusts go, they damage crops and other plants by eating the leaves. In the Middle East and parts of Africa, many people catch and eat swarming locusts.
Long horned grasshoppers hear by means of organs below the knee joint on their front legs. Locusts have hearing organs on their abdomens just above the base of the hind legs.
A grasshopper's abdomen expands and contracts to pump air in and out of 10 pairs of breathing holes. These holes, called spiracles, are along the sides of the abdomen and the thorax. Tubes branch out from the spiracles and carry air to all parts of the body.
The female grasshopper has a strong, sharp part called an ovipositor at the rear of the abdomen. She uses it to dig holes in the ground, or to slit leaves or stems, to make hiding places for her eggs.
Female grasshoppers lay as few as two or as many as 120 eggs at a time. The eggs, held together by a sticky substance made by the female's body, are packed into the holes dug by her ovipositor.