Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 116, August 2014, pp. 1-23. | Page 14
14
Prof. Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Khalaf-von Jaffa infront of Al-Ka'ba in Makkah AlMukarramah and on the Kiswah are Desert Locusts (Schistocerca gregaria). Photo by:
Nora Norman Ali Khalaf. 02.01.2014.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/12032808696/
. المإلف أمام الكعبة المُشرفة فً مكة المُكرمة وٌُرى على كسوة الكعبة الجراد الصحراوي المُسبح بحمد هللا تعالى
.01.210.22 . تصوٌر إبنتً الحبٌبة نورة نورمان علً خلف
Locust swarms fly with the wind at roughly the speed of the wind. They can
cover from 100 to 200 kilometers in a day, and will fly up to about 2,000 meters
above sea level (thereafter, it becomes too cold). Therefore, swarms cannot cross
tall mountain ranges such as the Atlas Mountains, the Hindu Kush or the
Himalayas. They will not venture into the rain forests of Africa or into central
Europe. However, locust adults and swarms regularly cross the Red Sea between
Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and are even reported to have crossed the
Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Caribbean in ten days during the 1987-89
plague. A single swarm can cover up to 1200 square kilometers and can contain
between 40 and 80 million locusts per square kilometer. The locust can live
between three to six months, and there is a ten to 16-fold increase in locust
numbers from one generation to the next (Wikipedia).
Gazelle : Th