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Waterfall nature

LESSOnS

FROM A

LOCuST

By Josh Truter,
Photographs by Josh Truter and JMK
This visitor is actually tasting a succulent leaf.
An encounter with

a free-roaming

Arthropod revealed

some interesting

facts about locusts

and their reasons for

visiting one’s garden.
Our first visitor at the door of our garden cottage. The second visitor in the bird cage.
L ast year, while renovating our Whoopsy. It turns out that it’s known as America. Despite the toxicity of these

the Green Milkweed Locust (Phymateus
garden cottage, we arrived
plants, they are often used for hedges.
at its entrance one morning
Bush Grasshopper. While the dorsal
to find a large locust gracing viridipes), also known as the African It’s almost as though these lone visitors
the door handle. We’d been thinking area immediately behind its head, were trying to tell me something, so I set
of using the cottage for AirBnB which is covered in carbuncles, and out to look for what would attract them
accommodation, as a way of travelling its long oval head, are often bright to our garden – and lo and behold –
the world without actually going green – as are the outer wings, the inner there it was, right at the entrance to our
anywhere ourselves. Needless to say, wings are bright red and blue, quite property – a very healthy and thriving
that idea has since been squashed. striking to watch when it’s in flight. Acokanthera schimperi, commonly
known as a Round-leaved poison-bush.
It’s a year later and again a lone If you annoy these locusts, they secrete a
locust has appeared. We now have a poisonous fluid from their thoracic joint I put a few young leaves and flowers
puppy who, we found out multiple – so they are not good toys for puppies. from this plant into the bird cage and,
times, is allergic to bees. When she sure enough, the locust soon tucked in
started trying to play with this new And here’s another cause for concern and polished off all the buds and half
toy, I quickly intervened and caught – some of the plants that they feed a leaf. That doesn’t mean that these
it. Due to work pressures, I decided on are highly toxic. According to locusts don’t eat other plants, but they
to keep it in an old bird cage until Wikipedia, all plants of the genus will track down their favourite sources
I could get a gap to take it to the Acokanthera contain toxic cardiac of food if they are in your garden.
green belt and release it – far away glycosides strong enough to cause
from the juicy new buds and shoots death, which is why the sap from When I eventually found a suitable
in our neighbourhood gardens. these plants is used by traditional opportunity to take the bird cage to
In the meantime, I gave it some Bushmen (Khoisan) for their poison the green belt up the road and set the
leaves and water to keep it alive. arrows. The Green Milkweed Locust visitor free, of course he simply did what
feeds on Acokanthera oppositiflora, came naturally. There was no panic or
It took a few days of watching this Acokanthera schimperi, both flurry to get away. Without skipping
large creature with great fascination indigenous to Africa, and Cascabela a beat, he set foot on terra firma and
before I thought to do a bit of research thevetia (also known as yellow immediately started eating the lush
and find out more about it. oleander) which hails from Central green leaves of the nearest weed!

40 Waterfall Issue 11 2020