Science & Tech

Driving Through a Locust Swarm Looks Like the Apocalypse

by Derrick Rossignol
Jul 24 2017 • 11:30 AM

You’ve probably heard the oft-repeated fact that bugs outnumber and outweigh us humans. Even still, it’s tough to imagine just how many tiny insects it’d take to add up to such a colossal weight. If you are having trouble with the image, perhaps this video of a locust swarm in Russia will help to get things rolling. (via RT).

Youtube Video play button
The video, taken from inside the driver’s moving vehicle, shows what initially looks like a dust storm ahead. However, once we get into the thick of it, it turns out that this brown cloud isn’t made up of dirt, but by thousands and thousands of locusts. It might be unsettling to look at, but the problem goes a lot deeper than that: Authorities in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan declared a state of emergency last month when 114,000 hectares of agricultural land have been impacted. Despite efforts to stop it, the locusts have been very detrimental to the area. Listen to one resident’s account, from the video below:
“They devour everything. They destroy green fields and there is nothing, just bare ground. There are the greens over there, which they have not yet reached. It makes no difference for them: trees, shrubs or grass. If they devour it all, the cattle will have nowhere to graze. We would not know what to do then.”
Youtube Video play button

It sounds like they’re talking about a merciless alien fleet that’s come to destroy Earth or something. Have you ever heard of anything like this happening? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Featured image: Bruno Cordioli/Flickr