Next time you hear a cricket, test out its temperature-telling prowess and let us know how it goes! Enjoy more cricket facts and how to take care of crickets.

Sounding a danger alert when sensing troubleĬrickets are part of the family Orthoptera (grasshoppers and katydids).

Behaving aggressively during the encounter of two males.

Courting a nearby female with a quick, softer chirp.

Calling to attract a female with a a loud and monotonous sound.

There are several reasons why crickets chirp. It’s a little simple to the way you run your thumb against a comb. The tone of the chirping depends upon the distance between the wrinkles. The male cricket rubs a scraper (a sharp ridge on his wing) against a series of wrinkles, or “files”, on the other wing. Male crickets use chirping to attract females, scare off other males, or warn of danger.Ĭontrary to popular belief, crickets do not use their legs to chirp! In fact, crickets produce the iconic sound by rubbing the edges of their wings together. So, how and why do crickets make that chirping sound, anyway?Ĭhirping is a cricket’s way of communicating. To find out this week’s weather in your region, see our seven-day forecast. Use the method you prefer and then convert to degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit using our temperature converter. To convert cricket chirps to degrees Celsius:Ĭount the number of chirps in 25 seconds, divide by 3, then add 4 to get the temperature.Įxample: 48 chirps /(divided by) 3 + 4 = 20° C The number you get will be an approximation of the outside temperature. Just count the number of chirps in 14 seconds, then add 40 to get the temperature. To convert cricket chirps to degrees Fahrenheit:

The formula expressed in that article became known as Dolbear’s Law. The cooler the temerpature, the slower the reaction rate, and the less frequent the chirps. The warmer the temperature, the easier the cricket’s muscles activate, so the chirps increase. The insects’ muscles contract to produce chirping, based on chemical reactions. ADVERTISEMENT The Cricket as a ThermometerĬrickets are cold-blooded and take on the temperature of their surroundings. Back in 1897, a scientist named Amos Dolbear published an article “The Cricket as a Thermometer” that noted the correlation between the ambient temperature and the rate at which crickets chirp.

Cricket sounds