Today on Monday Mysteries I have a couple of updates on the topic of an earlier Monday mystery: the giant yellow grasshoppers we’ve seen here in Florida.

First, I finally got a photo of one to show you what I looked like, even though it took a couple of weeks for one to show up again on the back deck:

Grasshopper on the deck

But once they started showing up again, there was usually at least one every day. Once there were even two that seemed to be locked in a fight to the death.  One leaped onto the back of the other and the two of them wrestled around on the boards for a minute or more.  It was like watching a nature show where they show you the two animals battling for supremacy of the pack. Or something. Anyway, the tournament ended when the one on top walked away in triumph, as the other one remained behind, motionless.   Chris and I both though it was dead, but a while later when we looked to see if the coast was clear to go out and clear away the “body”, it was gone. So maybe it was just playing dead until the other one left. So unexpected to see a life and death struggle played out among bright yellow grasshoppers in the sunlight on the back deck.

On a less lethal note, though, I most often saw just one at a time.  In fact, almost every morning  last week I saw one while  I was cleaning up in the kitchen after breakfast.

Hmm, I should hasten to add that the grasshopper was outside and I was inside at the time; the glass doors to the patio lead off the kitchen.

Anyway, what I kept seeing was a grasshopper stopping in front of the glass doors and proceeding to do a little morning routine. It struck me as part exercise, part dance. The slide show viewer below will  automatically flip though a series of photos showing off the grasshopper’s fancy footwork; if you hover over the viewer,  you will be able to get buttons that will allow you to pause and move forward and backward at your own pace.

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The grasshopper did that sequence of “step, kick, kick, kick, kick, touch back” over and over before ultimately taking a bow and walking away.

OK, well, he didn’t actually take a bow. But he did really do that same sequence at least 4 times each morning before moving on. As I watched him, it occurred to me that all he needed to do was replace one of the kicks for a leap and he’d be ready for Broadway:

Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch…Again!
Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch…Again!
Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch…Again!
Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch…Right!
… lyrics from I Hope I Get It, from A Chorus Line

I know, I know.  To get from talking about grasshopper to a Broadway show tune is a enough of leap all on its own.  But that’s the way it sometimes goes with one of these Monday Mysteries…

*****

P.S. Since I don’t have any more information about the grasshopper to offer, I’ll instead offer a link to a YouTube clip of that dance number from A Chorus Line (the dance begins around 0:30 in the clip).

 Enjoy.