There is nothing quite so whimsical as a grasshopper! They're fast as lightning and chirp like birds! If you've ever tried catching one, you know how difficult it is. Mishy saw one along the road and it stayed until she got her camera ready (I guess grasshoppers like having their pictures taken too!). I didn't bother trying to pet it, it would have most likely seen my hand coming any ways with one of it's 5 eyes! Yes thats right! Grasshoppers have 5 eyes (3 of them they call simple and 2 are compound). With all of these eyes they can see far away, backwards, forwards and even sideways! That's very fortunate for them, but they don't have a nose so they have to breathe out of holes along the side of their bodies.
Did you know that there are over 10,000 different kinds of grasshoppers? They love to eat corn, oat, barley, clover and wheat so some farmers don't like them too much! But they can still be helpful to farmers by eating poisonous weeds and leaving nutrients in the soil. So the next time you see one, please don't try and catch it and let them work their magic instead! They may even smile for the camera!
