Locust (46 page)

Although the metaphor of angels was biblical, there is an interesting biological homology between heavenly beings and lowly locusts. Unlike all other winged creatures (birds, bats, pterodactyls, etc.), insects did not exchange limbs for wings in the course of evolution. Their wings arose from thoracic plates, without having to modify their legs. Interestingly, the only other winged creatures that retained all of their limbs are mythical beings—the griffin, Pegasus, and the angel. So, locusts and angels both have wings and their full complement of limbs and, at least according to the
Deseret News,
they both are heaven-sent.

Interestingly, the implement was not named after the bulldozer, which did not exist until the 1930s. Prior to the hulking machine,
bulldozer
referred to a person who intimidated by violence. This term had its origin in “bull dose,” a slang phrase used on slave plantations for a severe beating that was literally “a dose fit for a bull.” In the same year that hopperdozers were being invented, the term
bulldozing
came into popular use to describe the beating of black voters during the presidential election. Hopperdozers, on the other hand, were named for the effects of the coal tar or oil that was applied to the pan. These substances caused the intoxicated insects to stagger sleepily and then appear to doze.

In recent years, America’s heartland has regressed to more vulnerable expanses of monocultures. The botanically and genetically narrowed base of agriculture remains a serious concern to those who understand both the ecology of pests and the lessons of history. Vast, uniform blankets of crops are highly susceptible to pests, as producers learned in the corn blight of 1970, which destroyed one-seventh of the U.S. crop at a cost of more than $2 billion.

In this 1949 classic, Leopold also celebrated the contributions of four amateur naturalists—and one of these was Norman Criddle, whom Leopold saw as an authority “on everything from local botany to wildlife cycles.”

Bob’s findings have found their way into today’s methods of rearing
sanguinipes
—the “white rat” of grasshopper biology—as we continue to include dried dandelion in their diet, and the insects flourish as a result.

On this venture our wrangler was more reliable but no less moody. However, we could never have imagined that his dark mood would turn homicidal a few weeks later. Responding to a call from concerned friends who had been unable to contact Gary and Sue Weiss, the sheriff found their bodies about a mile from the Ponderosa Lodge. Evidence of a struggle indicated that they had been shot inside the lodge and their bodies dragged into the woods. Three days later, police found Ken Nickodemus, our sullen wrangler, asleep in the Weiss’s stolen truck. Piecing together the rest of the story becomes extremely challenging, as the case devolved into a hotly contested effort on the part of the courts to keep the proceedings secret despite adamant claims by the press that an eighteen-year-old being charged as an adult is not protected by the state laws that shield minors from public hearings. It appears that the troubled young man was convicted, and he is presumably serving his time at the state prison.

In light of our recent studies of grasshopper ecology, the intimate association between soils and locusts is not surprising. Several years ago one of my best graduate students, Scott Schell, conducted a spatial analysis of the environmental factors associated with rangeland grasshopper outbreaks in Wyoming. Although vegetation, climate, and topography were all important considerations, one factor dominated the ecological model—soils. Using computer mapping, he pinpointed the lands that supported the most frequent grasshopper outbreaks based on three decades of survey records. These chronically infested habitats, scattered across eastern Wyoming, had one thing in common, a particular soil with a name that only pedologists could love or comprehend: Torriorthents-Argiustolls-Haplustolls. This is a well-drained, sandy-gravelly soil found on eroding hillsides with sparse vegetation. Most remarkably, this particular soil type is relatively rare, being found in less than 1 percent of the state, but it comprised all of the lands rated as having a history of severe grasshopper outbreaks. We think grasshoppers and locusts are creatures that live above the ground, but in reality they spend more than three-quarters of their lives buried in the earth. It is no wonder that the chemistry, moisture, texture, and depth of soils are so critical to these insects.