three hundred thirty nine

MORMON CRICKETS

I heard about these when I was riding my bicycle through Nevada and Utah. I asked about the make shift corrugated steel fences around some of the houses on highway 50. They told stories about Mormon Crickets rampaging by the millions across the countryside. These fences were to stop them or make them bypass the houses.

They told me of blood red inch deep slime of dead crickets on the highways. They caused car accidents, ate crops, covered houses and made it almost impossible to enjoy the outdoors.

 

I thought it was just a good story to impress me but I heard the exact same story from several people. 

I grew up in eastern Ohio with mosquitos and flies. The summers in farming areas had clouds of flies and at dawn and dusk the mosquito swarms were unbearable. I had no idea how bad they were until I moved away.

I lived in Hawaii for four years. The insects in the tropics are everywhere so controlling them is just part of your day. There are some harmful ones but most are just a nuisance. The locals were much more tolerant but like me from Ohio bugs are just part of life.

Mormon crickets are actually not a cricket, they are Shield-backed Katydids. They are called crickets because the males make a cricket noise. They got the Mormon name because they destroyed the crops of Utah Mormon settlements in the 1800's. 

Three out of every ten years they emerge in large numbers depending on weather conditions and other factors. They eat every plant around them then rampage in search of food. They don't bite humans but they eat most plants, other insects and each other alive or dead. 

 

The four or five foot high corrugated steel fences are buried in the ground to prevent the wave of invaders from crawling under or climbing over to swarm the houses. I assume they work because most rural houses had them. They were unsightly which revealed the level of chaos happening when they were built.

The descriptions of road conditions during these swarms were the most interesting. As traffic killed a few the others crowed to eat then as more are killed the slime of the large juicy dead bugs grows and grows. They talked about multi car accidents with casualties and the red slime covering the cars and trucks.

I thought they were exaggerating but I can see how that could happen. They all told me it would be hard for me to ride my bike through these areas, I now agree.

Where ever you live there is something weird, horrible or interesting depending on your perspective. These critters are now being found in Oregon, but I'm not heading to Home Depot for supplies yet.

Video One link     Video Two link     Video Three Link

This video one shows Middle Gate Station near Fallon Nevada, I ate there on my way through Nevada on highway 50. This was my San Francisco to Maine trip.