Mostly nocturnal insects related to bush crickets and grasshoppers, with round heads, long antennae and powerful jumping legs. Males sing by rubbing their tough front wings together, and crickets hear through ears on their front legs.
Quick answers
What is it?Insect
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Mainly nocturnal, and best known for the males' chirping song.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?Sometimes
Kept as pets from China to Europe, sometimes for cricket fighting.
Do people eat it?In places
Eaten in Southeast Asia, where they are sold deep-fried in markets as snacks.
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
ColoursBrown, Black, Green
SizeTiny
Legs6
Covered inExoskeleton
Lives alone
Lives for1 year
Can flyOnly some
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Worldwide between about 55° north and south, with most species in the tropics.
Did you know
Chirps faster in warm weather, so you can estimate the temperature by counting.
A parasitic fly finds crickets by their song, and on Kauai in Hawaii a mutation has left many males silent.
Crickets turn food into body mass efficiently, which makes them a candidate for food production.
Often confused with
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