Residents urged to act now as 'millions' of pests threaten to take over parts of Australia
Aussies have been warned to be on high alert now there is a heightened risk of "millions" of pests hitting parts of the country, with one entomologist telling Yahoo News experiencing it firsthand is "remarkable, yet disturbing".
Environment authorities have flagged the high chance of a locust outbreak in parts of New South Wales, with the pests gaining an infamous reputation for how large and rapid a swarm can develop. Residents situated in the state's central west including Ivanhoe, Tottenham, Warren, Quambone, Goorianawa and Coonamble are being warned to do their bit to prevent the situation from getting out of control.
"Bare, compact soil" and "hard, well-drained ground along contour banks or open areas" is where the Central West Local Land Services are urging the public to check. If any eggs are found, Aussies are being urged to alert authorities.
"Females lay eggs into the ground and when they emerge they're in the nymphal stage — they look like little grasshoppers, but they don't have functional wings," entomologist Andy Austin from Adelaide University said. "They stay in quite a concentrated area, and the key to controlling them is at this stage. Spraying them now at the beginning of the breeding cycle is best, not part way through."
Pesticides are used to kill the pests, with Austin explaining "millions" of locusts can overrun an area if left to their own devices.
Locusts' impressive ability to rapidly increase their population size and expand their territory is what makes them such an invasive pest.
"When locusts reach the adult stage, they're capable of long-distance dispersal... it could be anything from tens of kilometres to hundreds of kilometres," Austin explained. "They're capable of stripping bushes and grass, and denying livestock of food... locusts in very large numbers have the ability to do really significant damage."
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There are three species of pest locusts in Australia, and one is even native — the Australian plague locust. The country has been steadily subject to many locust outbreaks, with eight major plagues since 1930, according to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. However, there are reports of outbreaks for centuries.
"In the biblical context, it was considered the wrath of God because hundreds of thousands of these insects would appear out of the blue and completely destroy a crop... it's a remarkable thing to see a locust swarm, but it's also quite disturbing."
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