An elite force of more than 700,000 ducks and chickens has been deployed as China's latest weapon to take on an invasion of locusts.

The poultry army has been sent to the western front in Xinjiang province where swarms of locusts have devoured more than 3.8 million hectares of crops and grassland.







We release them on the grassland, blow whistles and they eat the locusts

Xinjiang Locust and Rat Control Office

The birds are trained to seek out and consume the pests at the sound of a whistle which they have been trained to associate with feeding. "We release them on the grassland, blow whistles and they eat the locusts", an official with the Xinjiang Locust and Rat Control Office is quoted as saying.







So far the birds have devoured more than 100 million locusts, officials estimate. The deployment of the feathered force follows the introduction of a specially selected chicken army two years ago, designed to tackle a similar outbreak in the province. However, officials later found that ducks were more efficient locust predators, able to gobble up more than 400 insects a day. With the task ahead of them, they will certainly need a large appetite. According to the China Daily, in some badly hit regions officials say the density of locusts has reached as high as 5,000 per square metre.





