In ancient China, why didn't people eat locusts when there was a plague of locusts? Why is there no "locust plague" in China now? Today we will focus on this problem. Grasshoppers are commonly known as "grasshoppers". There are many kinds of grasshoppers. In biological classification, there is a Acridoidea. About 1, species of insects on the earth belong to Acridoidea, and the most widely distributed locust is Locust. Locust plagues are usually caused by migratory locusts. However, now, we will find a strange phenomenon that locusts have become a special food in China, and even in some places, wild locusts are not enough to eat and need to be cultured, which is very similar to the "legendary experience" of crayfish. Of course, breeding locusts also needs to do a good job of protection. Once locusts escape from the greenhouse in large numbers, it will cause devastating damage to crops in the surrounding farmland.

locusts

Why did the "locust plague" that plagued farmers in China for thousands of years disappear? Is it really related to "eating food"? The answer is no! Small-scale "locust plague" has not disappeared on a global scale, even in developed countries, but locusts are not enough to cause a natural disaster in areas with developed agricultural science and technology.

To protect locusts in plastic greenhouses, it is best to raise some chickens and ducks around the breeding base, which will hunt the escaped locusts clean. In nature, locusts also have natural enemies. The natural enemies of locusts are mainly frogs and birds. A small amount of locusts in farmland will not cause devastating damage to crops. Therefore, locusts and locust plagues are two different things. It is a naive and romantic idea for modern people to solve the locust plagues by eating.

Wheat and farmland make the ecological environment single

First, locust plague and human destruction of the ecological environment

The occurrence of locust plague is often related to climate change, so in ancient China, locust plague was closely related to drought. Locusts like warm and dry environment, so there is a saying that "a long drought will lead to locusts". Locusts not only like to eat the leaves of rice, wheat and corn, but also like to eat the leaves of reeds, barnyard grass, imperata and some Artemisia plants. After human beings develop large areas of grass, swamps and woodlands into farmland, the ecological environment tends to be single. In the period of drought, with the sparse grassland around farmland, the habitat of locusts is destroyed, and their living space becomes narrower and denser. With the increase of density, the breeding speed is correspondingly accelerated, and it goes to farmland full of rice, wheat and corn. After breaking through a certain critical point, locust disasters will form. Grasshoppers can reach thousands or even tens of thousands at most in a square meter, because they are flying in the air. Wherever such dense locusts go, the sky is covered, crops are destroyed and particles are not harvested. In ancient times, due to the shortage of surplus food, when crops were destroyed, famine would follow.

Rice and farmland make the ecological environment simple

Flood, drought and locust plague are the three major disasters in ancient agricultural society. Because locusts can fly, the influence scope of ancient locust plague is no less than flood and drought. Since the pre-Qin period, there has been a plague of locusts in China. It is recorded in the Book of Songs: "It's harmless to get rid of the moths and their thieves. Tian Zu has a god, and he is burning with fire. " Among them, "moth flies" refers to locusts. How did people drive away locusts at that time? Using the method of "catching fire" is to light a fire at night to trap locusts.

Generally speaking, the frequency of locust plagues in ancient China is increasing. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the average locust plague occurred every 8.8 years, but in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it increased to every 2.8 years. The number of locust plagues recorded in the history books became more and more, which was related to the continuous destruction of the ecological environment by human beings. The area of virgin forest and grassland is less and less, and the ecology shows a trend of simplification, so locusts are easier to gather. In addition, in the historical period, China's climate tends to be dry and cold as a whole, which is very obvious in the northern region. The drought of the climate has also increased the number of locust outbreaks.

In the 19th century, people used manpower to drive away locusts

Second, locust control and the disappearance of locust plague

In the traditional agricultural society, the occurrence of locust plague was closely related to famine, and successive dynasties attached great importance to the control of locust plague. People usually kill locusts by ringing gold, burning and killing, but this method has little effect on a large area of locust plague. When the locust plague occurs, the density of locusts is too high for people to drive and kill. In ancient China, people usually regarded locusts as "locust gods" because they knew little about the scientific knowledge of locusts. When encountering locust disasters, they often burned incense and turned to the gods for help, which further delayed the opportunity to exterminate locusts. Until the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, farmers in remote rural areas in China still regarded locusts as "magical insects". For example, in 1927, a locust disaster occurred in Gaomi, Shandong Province, and people were in succession. In 1931, a locust plague occurred in the northern part of Jiangsu Province, and local farmers burned incense and wished to worship, hoping that the locusts would fly away as soon as possible.

In the traditional agricultural society, people can't do anything about migratory locusts with high density. It is scientific to raise some chickens and ducks to peck at locusts. However, the number of chickens and ducks is limited after all, and they can't prey on so many locusts. Moreover, in ancient China, farmers generally couldn't raise many chickens and ducks, because raising poultry and livestock needed food. In the era of low agricultural productivity, there was not much surplus food. However, sometimes, luck is better. After the plague of locusts comes, we just meet flocks of birds, so the seedlings in the field can be preserved. For example, the Book of the New Tang Dynasty records: "In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan (AD 737), there were tens of millions of locusts in Beizhou, which were eaten by swarms, and the crops were not hurt." "History of the Old Five Dynasties" records: "In June of the first year of Kaiping in Houliang (AD 97), the five States of Xu, Chen, Ru, Cai and Ying were born, and wild birds flew empty and ate everything." However, this situation is rare. Generally speaking, people at that time still "depend on the sky for food" when they encountered locust plague.

locusts attached to the plant mountain

In recent decades, the locust plague has become more and more distant from our lives, as if it had disappeared. Why is there no plague of locusts now? This is mainly due to the application of aircraft in agricultural production. Now people can use airplanes to spray pesticides in case of locust plague. Spraying pesticides by plane can effectively kill locusts. Due to the development of modern agricultural science and technology, people's prediction of "locust plague" is also very accurate, and they can take precautions in advance. In ancient times, the appearance of locusts was often unexpected.

As a disaster, the locust plague has disappeared now, but there are still small-scale locust plagues. Even if there is a small-scale locust plague, it will not be a disaster, because we now have a perfect grain reserve system. Locusts will reduce grain production, but they will not cause disasters. Just like floods and droughts now, they exist in a small area, but they are not enough to cause major disasters. With the improvement of productivity, the ability of our whole society to cope with these traditional disasters is very strong. Therefore, on the earth in the 21st century, there will be no such traditional disasters as locust plague in economically developed areas.

the application of aircraft in agriculture

if pesticides are used to kill locusts, will locusts develop drug resistance? Locusts are different from bacteria. The rapid reproduction speed of bacteria and organisms means that the evolution speed is fast. People frequently use antibiotics, and bacteria will mutate and form antibiotic resistance. However, locusts and mice are multicellular animals after all, and the speed of reproduction and mutation is very slow compared with bacteria. As long as humans use pesticides and rodenticides reasonably, insects and mice can be effectively controlled.

to sum up, there are no locust plagues now, because of the progress of agricultural science and technology, and it has nothing to do with whether locusts have become a delicacy. In fact, a very important task in breeding locusts is to prevent them from escaping. Humans can't solve the locust plague by eating. Only when there are tens of millions of Bai Niao and wild birds flying in the air can we solve the locust plague by relying on the natural food chain.