Beach Hosts Strange Visitors - Grasshoppers





By Shawn J. Soper, News Editor
Originally published August 8, 2008

OCEAN CITY – Thousands of grasshoppers swarmed the ocean and beach in Ocean City and up and down the coast last Friday, no doubt leaving many to wonder if the end of the world was near, but it is now believed the unusual event was just the result of a “perfect storm” of favorable conditions.

Beachgoers last Friday likely encountered thousands of the insects swimming in the ocean, hopping over their towels, beach chairs and umbrellas and crawling on the arms and legs and even in their hair. While there was certainly no panic, the bizarre incident led to hundreds of inquiries to the Beach Patrol, beach stand operators and others on the front lines and more than a few phone calls and emails to local media wondering what caused the sudden onslaught.

Mike Raupp, professor of entomology at the University of Maryland, this week said he has seen pictures of the unlikely invaders and believes they were a species of grasshopper called melanoplus differentialis, more commonly called differential grasshoppers. According to Raupp, it is not unusual for the grasshoppers to swarm en masse as they migrate to new feeding and breeding areas, particularly in the Midwest where they are known to descend on and destroy crops, but a mass migration in the coastal mid-Atlantic area is less common.

“Clearly, it’s an omen or a sign of the Apocalypse,” he said jokingly. “Honestly, it appears to have been a freak event, a perfect storm of very good conditions.”

~The Dispatch~




I rescued this little fella from an evil boy who was pounding it with wet sand.