Ways to Help Grasshoppers and Crickets

When you think of the sounds of summer, you might imagine a chorus of crickets or the cheerful chirp of grasshoppers. To help grasshoppers and crickets in your backyard, you don’t even need to do anything -- all you need is to NOT do something! Leave a patch of grass unmowed!


The patch of grass does not need to be weeded or planted in rows. It can just be in a spot under a tree, instead of in a flowerbed.

Crickets and grasshoppers are very similar, being in the same order (Orthoptera). They also look alike and exhibit similar behaviors. However, they do have some differences. While a grasshopper’s antennae are short, a cricket’s are long. Also, a grasshopper’s ears are on its abdomen, and a cricket’s are on its legs! In addition, crickets are nocturnal, but grasshoppers are diurnal.

Have you ever wondered how grasshoppers and crickets make their chirping sounds? Instead of being a vocal noise, the chirping sound is made by the rapid rubbing of a grasshopper’s wings. The male rubs a scraper(a sharp ridge on its wing) against a series of wrinkles on the other wing.   Grasshoppers make sound by scraping a row of pegs on their hind legs against their wing or body or by snapping their hind wings while flying. The grasshopper's hearing organ is a large membrane, or tympanum, on the first segment of its abdomen ( shown in picture below)

The tone of the chirping depends upon the distance between the wrinkles. You can even calculate a rough estimate of the outside temperature by a cricket's chirps. The frequency of chirping varies according to outside temperature.To obtain a rough estimate of the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, count the number of chirps in 15 seconds and then add 37. The number you get will be an approximation of the outside temperature. Male grasshoppers make these chirps to attract mates. When a female hears a loud, strong chirp, she knows that the male is strong and large enough and would be the suitable father for her offspring.

You can tell the male from the female by noticing if they have something sticking out of their abdomen. If a grasshopper or cricket has a black tube sticking out of its abdomen, known as an ovipositor, it is a female. The ovipositor is used for laying eggs. Grasshoppers do not undergo complete metamorphosis, and so start their lives as miniature versions of their parents.

If you are interested in tracking grasshoppers and crickets, you can visit http://www.scistarter.com/, a website that includes many animal observing projects. Click on the link to see the site.  
In their search box, you can type in the name of whatever organism you are interested in, and you will see all the projects related to it. The way to participate in one of these projects is to take pictures of that particular organism and submit them. Scientists will view them and monitor the species to judge if they are endangered, and the most highly populous areas. Suggested grasshopper/ cricket projects are Camel Cricket Census, and, if you live in either Washington D.C, or Baltimore, Cricket Crawl D.C/Baltimore.

The Difference Between Grasshoppers and Crickets.