A grasshopper is a jumping insect with powerful back legs that can launch it twenty times its own body length. If you could jump like a grasshopper, you'd clear a basketball court in a single leap. These insects are named for their habit of living in grass and other plants, where their green or brown coloring helps them hide from birds and other predators.

Grasshoppers have been both helpful and harmful to humans throughout history. In small numbers, they're harmless creatures that chirp on summer evenings by rubbing their legs against their wings. But when certain grasshoppers gather in enormous swarms called locusts, they can devastate farmland by eating entire fields of crops in hours. The Bible describes locust plagues as one of the disasters that struck ancient Egypt.

The phrase knee-high to a grasshopper means very small or very young, like saying someone was just a little kid. If your grandfather says “I haven't seen you since you were knee-high to a grasshopper,” he means you've grown a lot since he last saw you.

In some cultures, grasshoppers are considered good luck, while in others, they're eaten as a crunchy, protein-rich snack. Scientists study grasshoppers to understand how their incredible jumping ability works, hoping to apply those principles to robotics and engineering.