The kingdom of insects: the largest grasshopper in the world

Naturalists are well aware of how many of the most incredible animals and plants on our planet. Many of the most "extravagant" species are found among insects. These include the largest grasshopper in the world, the uet.

We used to think that among the insects the largest species are found only among spiders, but they can be given odds by odds.

By their size, they surpass even many species of locusts, which are also difficult to attribute to small species. Unfortunately, the territory of our country does not live on the uet.

So, the largest grasshopper can grow up to 10 cm in length, and together with the paws and tail, it can generally "stretch" by 15-20 cm. As for the weight, the large uatas are often fattened to 70 g. It would seem that not So much, only the average sparrow seldom weighs more than 40 g.

By the way, their generic name can be translated into Russian as a "horrific grasshopper", and this largest grasshopper lives on the coast of New Zealand.

The natives from the earliest times feared and revered them, since even by local standards such dimensions are difficult to attribute to ordinary. In New Zealand, there are about 11 species, many of whose representatives grow even more than 15 cm.

Not surprisingly, they enjoy such popularity among insect lovers who keep their homes on the rights of pets.

It is worth one time only to see how such a giant, sitting on a person's finger, with an appetite gnawing a huge carrot, you can immediately decide how you treat them. Someone this biggest grasshopper immediately falls into the soul, and someone runs away screaming.

Outwardly, almost all of the uet are reminiscent of the disgrace of a beefy common grasshopper, only without wings. But there is one important difference: our insects on the paws do not have such healthy and massive thorns, which are used as an excellent weapon of self-defense.

By the way, why did the representatives of this family become so big? The fact is that their ancestors came to New Zealand in those distant times when it was not yet an isolated archipelago from Australia.

Then there lived only the smallest mammals, there were no predators, but the food literally lay underfoot. It is not surprising that the evolutionary process made of such insects out of ordinary insects.

As for capriciousness to the conditions of life, it is practically none: the largest grasshopper in the world can live in the forest, in marshland, in the mountains or even in a city park. Many of the Uetas are predators who like to bite a lizard or even a mouse, but about a third of the species eat vegetarian food.

Without them, the flora of New Zealand would have to be tight, as they play a significant role in spreading seeds from the plants and fruits they eat.

Only by a year and a half grasshoppers reach puberty, and the female soon after laying off lays about 300 eggs, after which it dies.

Unfortunately, in the wild, the largest grasshoppers in the world can soon disappear. The fact is that they are exterminated by feral cats, dogs and rats that have fallen on the archipelago with European ships.