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uncommon
Elegant Grasshopper
Zonocerus elegans
- Habitat
- Grasslands and scrub across sub-Saharan and Southern Africa
- Body length
- 45 mm
- Order
- Orthoptera · Pyrgomorphidae
Weird but real
When threatened it froths a foul toxic fluid from a back gland, brewed from poisonous plant alkaloids it hoards on purpose.
Why it's cool
It stole its own venom from the plants it eats, then painted itself in circus colors to brag about it.
