How Does a Cricket Chirp?
Not all crickets chirp. Only the male cricket chirps, and he does not do it by rubbing his legs together, which is a myth perpetuated by popular movies featuring crickets. Male crickets have a large vein running along the bottom of each wing. The vein has “teeth,” much like a comb does. The chirping sound is created by running the top of one wing along the teeth at the bottom of the other wing. As he does this, the cricket also holds the wings up and open, so that the wing membranes can act as acoustical sails. The chirps are highly pitched, a bit higher than the highest note on a piano. You can tell the temperature by how fast a cricket chirps: The faster the chirps, the warmer the night is. Dolbear’s Law states that one can determine the temperature by counting the number of chirps a cricket makes in 15 seconds and adding 40 to that number. In particular, the snowy tree species of cricket, which is common in the United States, is an example of this. Male crickets chirp most often at
