What Are the Benefits of Grasshoppers?

Grasshoppers are found in temperate climates around the world. The grasshopper will emerge from a cluster of eggs buried into soil, eat throughout the summer, breed in the fall and die off before winter approaches. Grasshoppers come in diverse sizes and shades of green. They are hunted by predators like spiders and birds. Grasshoppers provide culinary, ecological and medical benefits.

  1. Nutrition

    • In eastern world cooking, insects have always been a staple item. The grasshopper is found in restaurants, street-side carts and market displays all around Asia and India, for instance. The grasshopper provides excellent protein and necessary vitamins while containing negligible amounts of cholesterol and other fats. Grasshoppers are considered a delicacy in many countries, served with chocolate toppings or deep fried with crispy coatings. Eating grasshoppers is ecologically beneficial as well, since insects have numbers in the millions and are nowhere near extinction.

    Ecological Impact

    • The grasshopper is constantly leaving droppings behind in the ground, droppings that are rich in nutrients for the soil and vegetation. Likewise, as the grasshopper dies off at the end of the summer, its body is left behind to decompose and further enrich the ground with vital minerals and vitamins. Grasshoppers are also able to eat vegetation that is toxic to cattle and other farm animals. These insects help to remove the poisonous weeds from the grazing path of farm animals. Since grasshoppers emerge in spring in very high numbers, they also serve as a main source of food for many predatory insects like spiders and birds.

    Medical and Scientific Research

    • Grasshoppers have helped to develop certain medications that act upon the nervous system, since their nervous system resembles that of a human. Grasshoppers are used in clinical studies so that humans are not tested on with dangerous and unpredictable drugs. Grasshoppers also help in the study of evolution, since insects are one of the world's oldest forms of life. Insects have evolved over many years, yet their primitive defenses and habits are still studied to understand the origins of life.