Stand back and wait to be amazed. Despite the well over a million grazing animals in the Serengeti today, grasshoppers are quietly hopping about and eating more grass than all of the large herbivores put together.
Grasshoppers are in the order Orthoptera and most are in the family Acrididae, though pigmy grasshoppers, long horned grasshoppers and a host of other kinds are listed in various other families and subfamilies. Grasshoppers are a diverse and very successful type of insect.
Most grasshoppers have a large pair of hind legs that they use for jumping, two pairs of normally quite short wings and some sort of method of producing sound. They largely eat fresh, green grasses, though some eat seeds, flowers and some are even predatory on smaller insects and other grasshoppers.
Some grasshoppers change their physical shape and coloring when they become crowded, becoming Locusts. This form can gather into dense, very destructive swarms in the wild and on farms.
The legs of a grasshopper are used as both a means of transport and as a defense. In most grasshoppers, there is a catch or hook inside the leg that holds the leg from moving and allows the animal to build up a large pushing force before it releases in a jump; much as you would snap your fingers. The backs of the legs are covered with sharp spines, so when threatened, the grasshopper will flick its legs at its foe. There are several ways that this animal can make noises, though the most common is for it to rub a file-like surface on its leg against a similarly rough surface on its wing; much like a violin bow across its stings.