Swarming locusts can deploy a chemical to avoid being cannibalized
The “don’t-eat-me” compound signals that the insects have become a toxic treat
![A close-up photo of a locust biting into another locust. It is frankly unsettling.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/050423_RK_cannibal-locusts_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
For some locusts, like these Locusta migratoria, their fellow insects are on the menu. Juvenile migratory locusts give off a pheromone that stops their companions from cannibalizing them, a new study suggests.
Benjamin Fabian/MPI for Chemical Ecology