Cricket

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/cricket

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Family Gryllidae
2. What is the key adaptation?Sophisticated acoustic communication via stridulation, sensitive auditory organs, and remarkable ecological plasticity
3. What makes a cricket chirp?Crickets rub a special scraper on one wing against ridges on the other wing. This creates vibrations that become sound, and the wing membrane amplifies it.
4. Why do crickets chirp faster when it’s warmer?The rate of chirping depends on temperature. Scientists use this to estimate temperature, a rule called Dolbear's Law.

Stridulation: The production of sound by rubbing together specialized body parts, a primary method of communication for crickets.
Incomplete Metamorphosis: A type of insect development where the young (nymphs) resemble smaller versions of the adult and undergo gradual changes through molting.
Bio-indicator: An organism whose presence, absence, or abundance reflects the condition of an environment or ecosystem.
Fossorial: Adapted for digging and living underground, as exhibited by many cricket species that construct burrows.