Locusts are eaten by a surprisingly wide range of animals, from tiny parasitic wasps to wolves, bats, and primates. Birds are the most prolific locust predators, but reptiles, rodents, spiders, and even humans all feed on them. During massive swarm events, animals that don’t normally eat insects will switch to gorging on locusts as an easy, protein-rich food source.
Birds: The Most Effective Locust Predators
Birds are, by far, the most significant natural predators of locusts. The rosy starling stands out as the heavyweight. A single adult rosy starling eats 120 to 180 locusts per day, and flocks of these birds protect millions of hectares of grassland in Central Asia’s Xinjiang region from locust infestations each year. Their appetite is so reliable that they’re considered a genuine biological control agent in the region.
Raptors, including kestrels, hawks, and falcons, hunt locusts both in flight and on the ground. During a well-documented desert locust outbreak in the Ethiopian highlands, large flocks of raptors and thick-billed ravens descended to feed alongside other wildlife. Storks, bee-eaters, and pratincoles are also well-known locust specialists. In Africa, the carmine bee-eater times its breeding season to overlap with locust swarms, feeding its chicks almost exclusively on them. Domestic poultry, particularly chickens and guinea fowl, readily eat locusts and hoppers (the wingless juvenile stage) when given access.
Mammals That Feed on Locusts
Locusts aren’t just bird food. A range of mammals eat them opportunistically, especially during outbreaks when the sheer density of insects makes them impossible to ignore. During a desert locust outbreak at the Guassa plateau in Ethiopia, researchers observed gelada monkeys, a primate species that normally eats almost nothing but grass, feeding on locusts in large quantities. An Ethiopian wolf was also spotted foraging for locusts on the ground right alongside the geladas. This was the first recorded instance of an Ethiopian wolf eating invertebrates, since the species typically specializes in hunting rodents.
Bats are another important predator. Insectivorous bat species catch locusts in flight at dusk and dawn, when swarms tend to settle or take off. Small carnivores like foxes, hedgehogs, and meerkats eat locusts when available. Rodents, particularly in arid environments, will also feed on locust nymphs and eggs buried in the soil.
Reptiles and Amphibians
Lizards are consistent locust predators in warm, dry habitats where both species overlap. Monitor lizards, agamids, and geckos all eat locusts and their nymphs. Chameleons are especially effective, picking off individual locusts with their projectile tongues. In wetter environments, frogs and toads consume large numbers of hoppers, particularly during the early nymph stages when the insects are small and flightless. Snakes generally don’t target locusts, but some smaller species will eat them incidentally.
Insects and Arachnids
Some of the locust’s most important predators are other invertebrates, particularly those that target eggs and nymphs before they can join a swarm. Robber flies (family Asilidae) are aggressive aerial predators that catch locusts mid-flight. Praying mantises ambush them on vegetation. Ground beetles and their larvae feed on locust egg pods buried in soil, alongside larvae from blister beetles, which are among the most significant egg predators in many regions.
Parasitic wasps play a unique role. Small wasps in the genus Scelio, only 3 to 5 millimeters long, are the only true parasites of locust eggs. A female Scelio wasp locates a buried egg pod, chews a passageway through the protective froth surrounding the eggs, then backs out and re-enters tail-first to lay her own eggs inside the locust eggs using a long, needle-like ovipositor. The wasp larva hatches inside the locust egg and consumes it from within. In Australia, the species Scelio fulgidus is the principal egg parasite of the Australian plague locust, and its populations surge during outbreaks, sometimes causing very high egg mortality across a region.
Spiders also take locusts. Orb-weaving spiders trap them in webs, and ground-hunting spiders like wolf spiders prey on nymphs.
Humans as Locust Consumers
People have eaten locusts for thousands of years across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The nutritional profile explains why: dried locusts are roughly 51% protein and 35% fat by weight, with notable amounts of iron (8 to 20 milligrams per 100 grams in some species). That protein content rivals or exceeds most conventional meat sources. In parts of Mexico, Thailand, and several African countries, locusts are roasted, fried, ground into flour, or dried and stored. During swarm events, communities historically collected locusts as a windfall food source, and modern interest in edible insects has renewed attention to their nutritional value.
Can Predators Actually Control a Swarm?
Natural predation genuinely helps keep locust populations in check, but it has clear limits. Mathematical modeling of predator-prey dynamics shows that predation reduces the average density of locust populations, shortens the periods when locusts stay in their swarming (gregarious) phase, and makes the shift from solitary to swarming behavior less frequent. These effects get stronger as predator numbers increase.
The catch is scale. A single desert locust swarm can contain billions of individuals spread across hundreds of square kilometers. Large hopper bands and adult swarms almost certainly exceed the capacity of vertebrate predators to suppress them. Predators are most effective at the early stages: when locust populations are still relatively small and localized, or when egg-laying females are concentrated in specific areas where parasitic wasps and egg-eating beetles can destroy a meaningful percentage of the next generation. Once a full swarm forms, no amount of natural predation can stop it on its own, though it still reduces overall numbers and can work alongside other control measures.
This is why the rosy starling is so valued in Central Asia. The birds don’t wait for a full swarm. They arrive in enormous flocks and hit locust populations hard during the buildup phase, preventing outbreaks from reaching their worst potential.