How far can a locust travel in a single day?
Locusts can travel over large distances during the night by being carried on strong warm winds associated with fronts or low pressure weather systems. Locusts that have enough fat reserves for migration take-off at sunset if the temperature is above 20oC flying to several hundred metres altitude and are carried by upper level winds. The locusts may move up to 500 kilometres or more in a single night, depending on wind speed and the number of hours they stay aloft. If no green vegetation is encountered after migration they will continue to move whenever weather conditions are suitable or until their fat reserves are depleted. Shorter distances (rarely exceeding more than 20 km per day) can also be covered by day-time flights. Not all long distance migrations are successful and during plague years large numbers of locusts have been found washed-up along the beaches of southern Australia or stranded in the middle of dry salt lakes.
