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A simple video on how to give your pet bugs a home they'll love ! Join in on the fun! Disclaimer: Do not handle knives and scissors without adult supervision. Do not run with sharp objects. Do not harm or consume your insect friends. Like/Comment/Subscribe/Share/Bugcatch Follow on Twitter!

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Fast Facts: Grasshopper

Name: Two-striped grasshopper
Scientific name: Melanoplus bivitattus
Average length: 1 - 10 cm
Life expectancy: around four months

Did you know?

Grasshoppers are well known for their songs, which are made in different ways by different subfamilies. Some make sounds by rubbing pegs on their hind legs together, some clatter their wings together in flight, some rub their wings together and others do not make any noise at all.

Physiology

There are 18,000 kinds of grasshoppers in the world. All species of grasshoppers share the common characteristic of being a long, slender insect and is known for its strong mandibles, or jaws, which are adapted for chewing. The grasshopper has two pairs of wings. The front pair is rigid, while the hind pair is larger, membranous and often brightly coloured. These wings help some species fly well, yet others fly poorly or not at all. It also has three pairs of legs, all of which are used for walking. The back pair is more muscular and used for jumping or initiating flight.

There are two main groups of grasshoppers: long-horned and short-horned, determined by the length of antennae. The two-striped grasshopper, a short-horned grasshopper, is recognized by the stripes on its back, the colours varying due to location and maturity.

The grasshopper has no ears. Instead it uses organs called tympana to hear, circular membranes found in the abdomen of the insect where the hind legs attach to the body. It also has five eyes. The two large eyes are on either side of the grasshopper's head, each with thousands of single lenses, allowing it to see in all directions. The three smaller eyes-one at the base of each antenna and one between the two antennae-are single eyes and it is unknown what their purpose is.

Habitats/Behaviours

Grasshoppers are well known for their songs, which is made in different ways by different subfamilies. Some make sounds by rubbing pegs on their hind legs together, some clatter their wings together in flight, some rub their wings together and others do not make any noise at all.

Also renowned for its jumping ability, the grasshopper has strong hind legs to allow it to jump 20 times the length of its body.

The grasshopper is an herbivore. Some species eat only certain types of plants while others eat any type of plants it can find. It has been known to destroy entire crops of cotton, clover, alfalfa and other grains, where as the two-striped grasshopper eats plants that are toxic to cattle.

Other than humans, flies are the primary threat to the grasshopper, but it is also eaten by birds, reptiles, skunks, rodents, coyotes, beetles and spiders.

Range

Grasshoppers live in fields, meadows and anywhere that they can find vegetation to eat. They can be found almost everywhere in the world, except for the extreme cold regions of the north and south poles.
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Name: Two-striped grasshopper Scientific name: Melanoplus bivitattus Average length: 1 - 10 cm Life expectancy: around four months Grasshoppers are well known for their songs, which are made in different ways by different subfamilies. Some make sounds by rubbing pegs on their hind legs together, some clatter their wings together in flight, some rub their wings together and others do not make any noise at all.

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Some information about grasshopers

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BioKIDS - Kids' Inquiry of Diverse Species, Acrididae, grasshoppers: INFORMATION

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BioKIDS - Kids' Inquiry of Diverse Species

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Additional websites regarding food chains

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Additional websites regarding food chains

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Interactive Learning Sites for Education

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Interactive Learning Sites for Education

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eHarcourtSchool.com has been retired and is no longer accessible. Because of the age of this application, the programs supported by this platform are not able to benefit from the technological improvements in accessibility, security, and HMTL5 (non-Flash) that we have incorporated into our newer programs and platforms in recent years.

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to demonstrate an understanding of food chains as systems in which energy from the sun is transferred to producers (plants) and then to consumers (animals)

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Food Chains Compilation: Crash Course Kids

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Kid's Corner - Animal information, games and more!

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BBC - Schools Science Clips - Interdependence and adaptation

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An interactive woodland scene where children aged 10-11 can spot plants and animals, and then place them into a food web or sort them with a key.

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This is a public service announcement created by filmmaking students at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Los Angeles, Ca. Jeffrey, Jerry, Jonathon and Skylar show you how litter and not recycling hurts nature.

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We are learning...
to produce media texts for specific purposes and audiences, using a few simple media forms and appropriate conventions and techniques.

Create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) identifying the effects of human activities on the environment and motivate people to take action in their communities, families and their own lives.

Example:

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Public Service Announcement on Homosexuals

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We are learning...
to analyse the effects of human activities on habitats and communities.

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http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/biomes.htm

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Animal Adaptations: StudyJams! Science | Scholastic.com

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Through adaptations, animals develop certain features to survive in their environments. Students learn about these features and how they're passed on to future generations.

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Make sure to write a paragraph about your habitat and explain what it might be like to live there as an animal. How do the animals survive!

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Start Building!

Find materials at home and in the classroom to help build your habitat

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Make a list of all the possible materials you may need to start building your habitat

Kleenex box?  shoe box?

what might your animals be made out of?

Include other animals that live there and use a food chain to shows how they survive

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Brainstorm the type of habitat you want to build. What does the habitat look like?

What types of animals live there?

Is it hot or cold?

What types of adaptations might animals living there have?

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Task: Build an animal habitat and showcase some of the animals that live there and what types of adaptations they need to survive in that environment!

Checklist: My habitat must include

I have choosen a specific habitat

I have 2 or more animals that live there

I have showcased the animals adaptations

I have clearly shown a real life food chain for the habitat

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Check out this interactive animal adaptation games

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Interactive Learning Sites for Education

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Interactive Learning Sites for Education

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describe structural and behavioural  adaptations that let plants and animals survive in their habitat.

Guiding Questions:

Why do animals have different adaptations?

Try drawing an animal and label it's adaptations. What type of habitat is it build for?

Animal Adaptation WEBQUEST

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Each animal, wherever it lives, must meet challenges to survive. In order to survive, animals need to find food and shelter, and escape from predators. How do animals survive in their...

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identify factors that affect the ability of plants and animals to survive in their habitat.

Guiding Questions:

How might the adaptations help them to survive?

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World Wild Life Foundation

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We must, at a minimum, aim to hold on to key examples of every part of the web of life, from the Arctic to the Amazon. Although an estimated 50% of all species occur within one habitat type-tropical rainforests-the other half of all species are found elsewhere in land, freshwater, and marine environments.

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Biomes of the World for Children: Oceans, Mountains, Grassland, Rainforest, Desert - FreeSchool

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Learn about habitats by building one yourself!

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Build an Online Habitat is no longer available because the Flash Player that is required to play it is now obsolete.

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identify major habitats found around the world and compare what makes them so different and unique.

Guiding Questions:

What are the different types of habitats found around the world? Which is your favourite?

Compare 2 habitats that you think are the most different from one another. Do they have any similarities?

What other new pieces of information did you learn?

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Learn about the world's many landscapes.

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To demonstrate an understanding of habitats as areas that provide plants and animals with the necessities of life (e.g., food, water, air, space, and light)

Guiding Questions:

What is a habitat?

What do animals and ourselves need to survive?

What other new pieces of information did you learn?

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Home Sweet Habitat: Crash Course Kids #21.1

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Ontario Curriculum Resource