When You Hear Crickets

In pop culture, hearing crickets means that no human is speaking. But even if they were speaking, you'd be able to hear any cricket in the vicinity. Ze Frank explains that sound, but first we learn about the amazing jumping abilities of grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets. Closeup and slow-motion shots show us their wild spring-loaded joints and amuse us when it all goes wrong. Katydids and crickets have ears in their forelegs, and grasshoppers have ears on their abdomens. Then we get to how they produce those annoyingly loud sounds. Katydids and crickets rub their wings together, and grasshopper have to be different- they use their legs to talk. What do they say? Well, these are mating calls, so you can use your imagination. But those sounds don't only attract mates, they also attract predators. The acting award in this video goes to a praying mantis named Nancy. 

There's an 80-second skippable ad at 4:10. When I first watched this, the skippable ad was interrupted by an unskippable ad.