Every two weeks, our team check the eggpods in the in-situ breeding station. One eggpod contains 18 to 20 eggs which are inserted into the ground by the female at the beginning of the summer. In the breeding station it is done by us with the eggpods coming from the ex-situ breeding station.
Contrôle oothèques de Criquet de Crau, site de Calissanne en Crau @ Martin Meyer - CEN PACA
The successful breeding of the Crau Grasshopper within the framework of the LIFE project is a sine qua non condition for the reintroduction of the species, in order to increase the number of populations in the Crau plain. However, this breeding is a delicate operation, as the insects spend a large part of their lives in the soil (from July to the beginning of April) in what is called an eggpod or ootheca.
We are therefore impatiently awaiting the success of this season’s rearing: the answer will be in mid-April!
Oothèque de Criquet de Crau © Delphine Lenôtre - CEN PACA
Finally you can observe them – for real! Or almost…
This spring, our team has prepared a whole programme to discover the Crau Plain Grasshopper
The first hatchings of Crau Plain Grasshopper in 2023 took place at the beginning of April and observations of the first juveniles are multiplying by the day!
She cuts, assembles, glues, paints and articulates pieces of paper. She sculpts organic figures, plants, animals, then animates them. Her works transpire a naturalist sensitivity at the “edge of the brush”.