Amazing Animal Facts: Grasshoppers

It's that time of year again where grasshoppers are coming out. I've certainly got my fair share in my backyard. So it's left me wandering - what are some interesting facts about these little guys? Here are just a few:

• They can leap 20 times the length of its own body!
• Tucked under their wings are membranes that vibrate in response to sound waves, meaning their ears are on their abdomen!
• Grasshoppers existed long before dinosaurs! Fossil records show they first existed during the Carboniferous period more than 300 million years ago!
• Grasshoppers eat about half its own body weight in plants per day, meaning a swarm will devour crops.
• Grasshoppers and locusts are the same thing.
• Their musical "stridulating" will sing your children to bed.

Okay, I made that last one up - darn!