Why were crickets kept in China for centuries?

For their songs and for fighting

Why are crickets farmed for food?

They are rich in protein and efficient to raise

Crickets Quiz: Places, People and Key Facts

Count the chirps of a snowy tree cricket for 14 seconds, add 40, and you get the temperature in Fahrenheit, and this crickets quiz has more tricks like that. Learn why crickets were kept in cages in China, how they sing with their wings and why farmed crickets are sold in markets in Thailand.

Start Crickets Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Song
How do crickets chirp?
Who
Which crickets usually chirp?
Temperature
What does a snowy tree cricket's chirp rate reveal?
Ears
Where are a cricket's ears?
China
Why were crickets kept in China for centuries?
Mole
Which cricket digs with shovel-like legs?
Cave
What do cave crickets lack?
Food
Why are crickets farmed for food?
Weta
Which giant cricket relative lives in New Zealand?
Luck
In many cultures, a cricket in the house is a sign of what?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: How do crickets chirp?
Answer: Rubbing their wings together
One wing has a file, the other a scraper.
Q2: Which crickets usually chirp?
Answer: Males
They call to attract mates.
Q3: What does a snowy tree cricket's chirp rate reveal?
Answer: Air temperature
This is known as Dolbear's law.
Q4: Where are a cricket's ears?
Answer: On its front legs
Tiny membranes detect sound.
Q5: Why were crickets kept in China for centuries?
Answer: For their songs and for fighting
They were kept in small cages and gourds.
Q6: Which cricket digs with shovel-like legs?
Answer: Mole cricket
It sings from a burrow shaped like a horn.
Q7: What do cave crickets lack?
Answer: Wings
They use long antennae to feel their way.
Q8: Why are crickets farmed for food?
Answer: They are rich in protein and efficient to raise
Thailand has many cricket farms.
Q9: Which giant cricket relative lives in New Zealand?
Answer: Weta
Some weta outweigh a mouse.
Q10: In many cultures, a cricket in the house is a sign of what?
Answer: Good luck
Jiminy Cricket made crickets famous.

Crickets Quiz – Singers of the Night

Crickets are insects related to grasshoppers, with long antennae and strong back legs. There are about 900 species, including field crickets, house crickets, tree crickets and burrowing mole crickets. Most are active at night.

Male crickets sing by rubbing a file on one wing against a scraper on the other. Their songs attract mates and warn rivals, and their chirping speeds up as temperatures rise. Crickets hear through tiny eardrums on their front legs.

Crickets have a long history with people. In China they were kept for their songs and in fighting contests, and today they are farmed as a protein-rich food and as pet food. Their songs are a familiar sound of summer nights.

What This Quiz Teaches

Curious readers and nature fans will enjoy these questions.

How crickets chirp
Which crickets sing
How chirps show temperature
Where their ears are
Why crickets are farmed

Did You Know?

Female crickets have long egg-laying tubes.
Crickets molt about ten times.
Some crickets are silent.
Ant crickets live in ant nests.
Crickets can jump about 20 times their length.