Locusts are herbivores, but the team of international researchers who developed this new theory observed young locusts attacking and eating each other when food runs short. The immature insects are not yet able to fly and so cannot escape. This induces panic and causes them to band together for strength in numbers against the cannibals among them. The researchers surmised they continue that momentum into adulthood when they take to the air. The end result are airborne swarms desperate for edible vegetation of any kind. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7395356.stm/
