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Locusts have been regarded as a disaster for all of
recorded history. How about we stop thinking of them
as
a disaster, and start thinking of them as migrant farm
workers. They harvest everything in sight, turn it into
locust flesh, and hop right into a net for convenient
munching by some
starving person.
We should fish for locusts like we fish for fish, with mile
long nets suspended from, say, dirigibles. I'm not dead
sure I want to just pop one of these guys in my mouth,
but
I have no doubt that, given a steady and cheap supply of
them, someone will find a way to make potato chips out
of
them.
Trigger for locust swarming behaviours identified
http://www.scidev.n...ing-identified.html
[zen_tom, Feb 09 2009]
Link found between Serotonin and Swarming Behaviour in Locusts
http://www.efluxmed..._Locusts_34162.html
[zen_tom, Feb 09 2009]
They're crunchy, they're delicious, heck they're kosher.
http://www.iol.co.z...qw1104048545560B252
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 09 2009]
Leave Schistocerca Alone
http://www.savethelocust.com/
[Amos Kito, Feb 09 2009]
Squirrel Fishing
http://images.googl...p&resnum=4&ct=title
after they've eaten some locusts, obviously... [k_sra, Mar 10 2009]
[link]
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since they have lots of serotonin, perhaps they'd make a great winter snack. |
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I can see it now - "Like tofu, but crunchy!"... erk. |
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Perhaps we could just shorten the food chain. Would chickens and trout eat locusts? |
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Well, I'm told chickens are good for keeping down cockroaches, so they might. |
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It's a little bit more subtle than that - normally locusts are quite happy to munch away in relative isolation - on their own, they don't really do much damage - however, when food is scarce, and they start blundering into one another while competing for the same crop, their proximity to one another raises their stress levels - this stress triggers a radical change in their behaviour that causes them to swarm.
Since food is already scarce, the swarm quickly utilises what's left before other animals (i.e. us) get a chance. |
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Research has been done that shows that if you spray a bunch of locusts just prior to them getting upset with mood lightening drugs (I think serotonin was one mentioned) you can avoid them getting into swarm mode (conversely, I suppose, you might be able to spray them with agitating substances that gets them all upset and swarmy under conditions where they wouldn't normally) |
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The problem with the idea arises when you ask what it is that your (already scarce) crops are going to be used for - if it's something that can be replaced by locust protein then fine - but less so if you want to make bread, feed your cattle (assuming cattle don't eat locusts) or other crop-specific usages. |
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//agitating substances that gets them all upset and swarmy// |
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I'm thinking of angry mobs with pitchforks. What sort of spray might do that, do you suppose? |
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Well if serotonin calms them down, there must be some form of anti-seratonin - maybe cyproheptadine? [edit - I did just google "anti-seratonin". Surprised to find any results at all, I've just blindly copied one in here to look clever] |
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Norepinephrine is the fight-or-flight chemical. |
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This is why locusts are kosher. |
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ooooh, doesn't zen_tom look clever! |
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Could you kill locusts, peel off their exoskeletons, dehydrate the insides, grind them into a powder and make them into various baked goods? |
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The Shrimp of the Air. (I thought I posted this as an idea one time, but I can't find it now. I don't think people liked it very much at that time, though). |
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grind locusts, pour on boiling water... |
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Ewww, locust tea! It might taste a bit like bovril. |
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Not as salty or metallic, i would've thought. |
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The exoskeleton is not edible, so quite a wasteful harvest. |
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As they dine on every part of crops and vegetation, pesticides/herbicides (that usually are either sprayed long before harvest, or are not incorporated into the fruit) might be a problem. |
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Fair distribution of the harvest to farmers might pose some difficulties too... |
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But hey - dirigibles with gargantuan nets! Yay! |
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Maybe you could feed the exoskeletons to hedgehogs and eat them. |
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That might induce swarming behaviours in hedgehogs - this in turn might cause them to get all sticklebricked together in an unsightly lump. |
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The exoskeleton of shrimp isn't edible, either. |
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Jeezus. The annotations here puzzled me until I realized it
was "fishing" not "fisting". |
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can we fish for squirrels next? i think they'd be darn tasty and they do chatter so. (see link) |
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