Sunday, April 15, 2012

Old Wive's Tale?

I have heard of this over the years and more recently kept running across this fun fact on one of my trivia games and couldn't help but wonder at the validity of the fact,so I did some checking and sure enough it is the truth.
The frequency of crickets chirping varies according to the temperature. To get an estimate of the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit count the number of chirps in 15 seconds then add 37,for Celsius it is a little trickier count the number of chirps in 25 seconds,divide by 3 then add 4,the number you get is the approximate temperature.
There are several reasons why crickets chirp,they may be: a. calling to attract a female b. an aggressive encounter of two males or c. sounding a danger alert. It is usually the males you hear. He rubs a sharp ridge on his wing against a series of wrinkles on the other wing. The tone depends on the distance between the wrinkles.
Photo: close up of a cricket on the trunk of a tree.Image: two crickets viewed from above.

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