A swarm of grasshoppers around Las Vegas has grown so large meteorologists are able to track it on radar.
Las Vegas has received nearly twice as much rain in 2019 as usual, prompting huge swarms of grasshoppers to move through the area before migrating north.
“It appears through history that when we have a wet winter or spring, these things build up often down below Laughlin and even into Arizona,” Nevada state entomologist Jeff Knight said. “We’ll have flights (of grasshoppers) about this time of the year, migrations, and they’ll move northward.”
“We have records clear from the ’60s of it happening, and I have seen it … at least four or five times in my 30-plus years,” Knight added. “There are some special weather conditions that trigger the migration.”
? Some of you have been asking about the widespread radar returns the past few nights in #Vegas. Radar analysis suggests most of these echoes are biological targets. This typically includes birds, bats, and bugs, and most likely in our case–> Grasshoppers. ? #VegasWeather pic.twitter.com/reQX7hJR7Y
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) July 27, 2019
Las Vegas physician Daliah Wachs, also a nationally-syndicated radio host, theorizes that the grasshoppers’ explosive growth may also be due to boosts in serotonin, a chemical also found in humans that regulates mood.
“Grasshoppers may have a similar response as humans when it comes to the happy hormone. Serotonin makes a solitary grasshopper become more gregarious and more social. It really mimics and parallels what humans do,” Wachs told KTNV Las Vegas.
When large swarms of grasshoppers begin to form, the following boost in the bugs’ serotonin levels lead to more procreation and larger hordes, Wachs said.
