What Eats Grasshoppers? Discover Their Natural Enemies

Grasshoppers are jumping, flying insects that belong to the order Orthoptera, which also includes katydids and locusts. There are around 750 species of grasshopper in the U.S., with at least 400 species found in the Great Plains region. A few dozen species are considered pests that damage agricultural crops. However, most species are harmless, and some are even beneficial, consuming weeds and providing food for wildlife. But which animals eat grasshoppers? Read on to learn more about the natural enemies of grasshoppers.

Common Grasshopper Predators

Grasshoppers fill an important ecological role by providing food for other animals in the food chain. Wildlife predation has been shown to prevent grasshopper outbreaks, as well as save valuable grassland from destruction. Birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and even other insects prey on grasshoppers. Some of their natural enemies consume grasshopper eggs, while others favor nymphs or adult grasshoppers. In the following paragraphs, we’ll take an in-depth look at the different animals that eat grasshoppers in any of their life stages.

Birds

As a group, birds are the largest consumers of grasshoppers. An examination of over 40,000 bird stomachs revealed that more than 200 bird species prey on these insects. Birds such as kestrels, meadowlarks, gulls, and Swainson’s hawks have been recorded consuming upwards of 100 grasshoppers a day. Bird predation has been found to reduce grasshopper densities on western rangeland by 30%–50%. Other birds that prey on grasshoppers include crows, shrikes, larks, blackbirds, orioles, sparrows, chickens, and guinea fowl.

The majority of birds consume grasshoppers while raising their young, even if they eat seeds and plant matter as adults. Songbirds, shorebirds, game birds like turkeys and quail, and some species of owls and hawks particularly favor grasshoppers to feed their young. Grasshoppers are widely distributed, high in nutrition, and large enough that the cost of capture is exceeded by the high energy value. Scientists estimate grasshoppers contain 50%-70% crude protein, which is essential for the rapid development of chicks and nestlings.

Mammals

Mammals are also important natural enemies of grasshoppers. Many mammals are opportunistic feeders, so they prey on grasshoppers when available. Small mammals such as ground squirrels, deer mice, grasshopper mice, rats, moles, bats, and shrews eat grasshoppers and grasshopper eggs. Larger mammals including opossums, badgers, skunks, foxes, bobcats, and coyotes also consume grasshoppers. Studies have shown that even grey wolves eat grasshoppers, with researchers estimating they could catch and eat hundreds of grasshoppers each day.

Grasshoppers are highly mobile, so it might seem that the energy required to catch them would be too great for larger animals. However, at night, grasshoppers become sluggish due to cooler temperatures, making them easier to catch. As mentioned above, grasshoppers are also rich in protein and other nutrients. Therefore, these insects serve as an important alternative prey, supplementing the regular diets of some mammals, especially when other food sources are scarce. Of course, insects alone cannot sustain larger mammals like coyotes and wolves for extended periods. However, scientists believe that insects could account for up to 10% of a grey wolf’s daily nutritional requirements.

Other Insects

Other insects eat grasshoppers at different stages in their life cycles. Insects that eat grasshopper eggs include ground beetles, spiders, field crickets, red velvet mites, and the larvae of some blister beetles and bee flies. Large numbers of bee fly and blister beetle larvae can consume up to 80% of the grasshopper eggs in a localized area. Ants, blow flies, robber flies, and spiders feed on nymphs and adults. One long-term study in Wyoming determined that robber flies could reduce the grasshopper population by 11% to 15% percent. Spiders that prey on grasshoppers include wolf spiders, jumping spiders, and black widows, among others.

Some insects and their larvae parasitize grasshoppers and grasshopper eggs. Flesh flies, tachinid flies, tangle-veined flies, sphecid wasps, muscoid flies, root-maggot flies, threadworms, roundworms, nematodes, and many other parasites feed on, and eventually kill, their host.

Reptiles and Amphibians

Snakes, frogs, toads, salamanders, turtles, geckos, skinks, and many other lizard species eat grasshoppers. Researchers note that reptiles and amphibians consume large numbers of pest insects each year, with resulting benefits to agriculture. More specifically, researchers have determined that low grasshopper densities can be further reduced by reptile predation.

Western collared lizards, leopard lizards, gridiron-tailed lizards, Rocky Mountain tree utas, northern brown-shouldered utas, sagebrush lizards, and desert whiptails are just a few of the species found to have grasshopper remains in their stomach contents. A historical study from the Kansas State Agricultural College found that, among 49 lizards of 12 different species, 51.92% of the stomach contents contained Orthoptera, primarily grasshoppers.