Desert Drivers Meet a Swarm Surprise

A quiet road in the Western Sahara suddenly became a living cloud of insects, forcing drivers to weave around the massive swarm that blocked the highway and rattled cars.

• Scale of Destruction
  Locusts can devour as much food in a single day from one square kilometre as 35,000 people. If they keep multiplying, farms and livestock face severe losses.

• Climate Connection
  The UN Food and Agriculture Organization links the desert locust outbreak to extreme weather and climate change. Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns give these bugs more food, allowing them to grow faster than ever.

• Current Risk Assessment
  Officials on the Spanish islands of Lanzarote and Tenerife say the locusts pose no immediate danger to people. However, they warn that unchecked numbers could cause serious agricultural damage.

• Rapid Reproduction
  Female locusts lay eggs quickly, producing new generations that can reach the same destructive scale in a short time.

Farmers and governments are monitoring the situation closely, hoping to implement protective measures before the insects move inland.