the buzz log

A story that's grabbing readers' attention in Yahoo! Buzz caught our eye. In the far-flung country of Ethiopia, the population is bracing for a major locust infestation coming from Somalia. They're on their way, and boy are they hungry.

This is not the terror of military violence, like what's happening in Iran. But the terror of the insatiable insect could mean death and destruction on the Horn of Africa.

Already, the biblical-sounding insect has formed into massive swarms that are blanketing seven regions of the country. Some of these regions have never before had infestations, according to Yahoo! News.

In the past, Ethiopia has had to prepare for the onslaught of the bugs, which are drawn to very dry regions. The pest eats everything in sight, and the locust swarms threaten to wipe out crops of a population that relies on subsistence farming to survive.

While Ethiopia is coming up with a plan for the short and long-term, (they've already begun spraying the air) the BBC has grim details about the small but mighty pest. The swarms can have up to 80 millions bugs that fill the sky before swooping down to gobble up all plant life. They only live around three to five months. But the path of destruction the little buggers leave is mind-boggling. During plagues, locusts have the potential to cover "more than 20% of the total land surface of the world."