ONTARIO, CANADA  - NG - A new study shows that the insects change their aggressive behavior when they know other crickets are watching, the first time this phenomenon has been observed in any invertebrate. Mammals, birds, and fish are all known to be influenced by others.
In recent experiments, male crickets fighting in an arena acted more violently - and upon winning, were more jubilant - when other male or female crickets were in the audience. Found worldwide, crickets live in communities defined by conflicts between individuals, usually to gain access to territories, resources, and mates.
But most previous research has focused on the fighters themselves, without placing them in the social networks in which they live.
Now, the new study reveals that cricket behavior “is much more complex than we give them credit for,” said study leader Lauren Fitzsimmons, a biologist at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada.
Robert Matthews, a professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Georgia who was not involved in the study, said, “It’s an area that should have been looked at long ago  “Contests don’t occur in isolation,” he said.