Nonhuman Narrative

A Bug's Life: Cricket Edition

Picture found on Google Images of "field cricket"
Picture found on Google Images of "field cricket"

            Her journey begins one spring day. It's warm, dark, and moist where she is. There's movement all around her. She's the last of her siblings to emerge from the egg capsule that has housed her for the first part of her life. She struggles to free herself, but eventually emerges from within the ground where her mother laid her eggs. The new cricket nymph has one goal. Survive. To do this, three things must be accomplished, food, shelter, and the avoidance of predators. The road to adulthood is long and dangerous, but she must take it.

            She leaves her siblings to search for food. As a nymph, her food sources include crabgrass, ragweed, decaying plant matter, and other plants. She finds a field near a large red building with lots of delicious plants which can sustain her for her whole lifetime. So she'll make this her home while she grows until she's ready for the next step in her life. She will spend her days eating and hiding. After a few days of consistent consumption of crabgrass, she begins to notice a change. She's growing and begins her first molt. The young nymph sheds its old exoskeleton and the soft underneath is exposed. She is more vulnerable now than before with the soft tissues more likely to be damaged. The old exoskeleton is left behind as she continues on her journey.

           One sunny and warm afternoon, she encounters another young nymph just slightly larger than her. Since he's not a threat to her, they remain close to one another and continue eating. The days pass with both nymphs eating together and surviving. He begins his second molting process as she approaches hers. While his new exoskeleton hardens, he spends more time hiding. In turn, she is left to find food alone. Then one day, when they were eating ragweed together, their world went dark as night. Something was blocking out the sun. It's a giant bird with sharp talons that pierces the land and a long sharp beak. The bird's eyes scan the small area looking for any sign of food. The young female nymph remains motionless while the young male nymph jumps for cover. The bird's eye catches the movement and in a matter of seconds, the bird has captured and killed the unfortunate nymph. The female nymph had to watch the entire ordeal. Her instincts have saved her for the first time, so far. She survives and will remember this for the future.

           Her second molting process begins just a few hours later. With each molt, she gets larger and closer to adulthood. She also begins growing her ovipositor which will be used later in her life to lay her eggs. During her second molt, she experiences her first rainfall. The sky gets darker, but not as dark as night, while the temperature drops slightly. Wind starts blowing the plants around. She watches as other creatures hide or burrow themselves away. Her instincts tell her to seek cover which she finds under a bright blue and red pail next to a matching shovel. Just as soon as she's safe underneath, giant droplets of water fall from the sky and pummel into the ground. The young nymph watches as the land around her changes with each drop as sediment is moved from one place to another. Then the sky lights up followed by a loud crack, something that she has never heard before. The wind continues to blow the grass and other plants around including the tallest of trees as the nymph moves further under the pail. The pail has trapped plant material under it which she begins to eat. She also discovers that some of the plant material has started to decay. While the storm continues throughout the night and early morning, the young nymph eats and rests as she has just survived her first storm.

            Once the sun breaks free from the clouds and the rain and wind have stopped, she emerges from under the pail to discover that the land isn't the same anymore. The nymph ventures out to eat but keeps returning to the pail to rest. Only a few days after the storm, she begins her third molt. Then her fourth molt happens not too long after that.

             Just before her fifth molt, she returns to the pail to find two nymphs resting and eating. They're around the same size as her and present no threat. The three nymphs stay under the pail together for the remainder of the night. The next morning, the pail is ripped away because of a huge creature that's as tall as the sky. The creature has no fur besides the top of its head. The skin is pale and soft and he has thick dark brown hair on top of his head. It's a human child no more than two years old. The young nymphs scatter in different directions which draws the attention of the young boy. He chases after them since they look like toys. Our young nymph jumps away to hiding. She watches as one of the other nymphs is caught by the child and eaten. The nymph's instincts and memories remind her to stay still as the child looms closer. She has to be cautious that the child doesn't step on her and crush her to death. Just as the child's foot is suspended above her, the child is yanked away by its mother. Our nymph lives to see another day and another molt.

           The fifth molt comes and goes as the nymph continues eating every day. Each day is consumed with finding food and staying alive. Her instincts sharpen to keep her safe as she takes her previous lessons and builds on them. On the day before her sixth molt, she encounters a large adult male cricket. This is the first time she has seen one. Throughout the day, she can hear the males calling for females to mate with, but she avoids them since they pose a threat to her. The adult male is large enough to eat her if he can capture her. She jumps away from him in hopes to escape him. He jumps after her and due to his longer and stronger jumping legs, he catches up to her. She escapes him and jumps to a new area where she lands in front of another adult cricket. The male doesn't chase her this time and instead starts chirping to either attract or threaten the other adult cricket. The nymph jumps away to safety as the other adult cricket approaches the chirping male. It's a female interested in mating. The young nymph is safe again. She finds a rock that provides safety for the rest of the evening and as she begins to molt for the sixth time. Since emerging from her egg, she's more than doubled in size. Her seventh molt happens and her ovipositor has almost fully developed. Her exoskeleton is getting darker with each molt as she approaches a dark brown to black color.

            Approaching her eighth molt, she's near her rock when she hears the loudest roaring sound that she's ever heard. It's much louder than the storm that she heard when she was younger. In the distance, she sees a creature similar to the young child that ate the other nymph on some beast made of metal. The beast has blades that cut down the tall grasses and other plants. The chemicals released by the plants flood the nymph's system. She realizes the danger just in time as she returns to the safety of her rock. She burrows under the moist soil and remains there until the beast knocks away rock. The blades create a powerful wind that blows away the rock and pulls her out of her burrow. She is thrown out from under the beast closer to the big red building. Her left antenna and left walking leg were broken during her landing. This makes traveling and feeling her surroundings more difficult. She finds shelter under a decomposing hay bale. There she discovers a world full of other insects and burrows. She sees worms and giant slugs for the first time. There's hundreds of pathways for ants. She even encounters the other nymph that escaped the human child. She finds a place to rest and heal.

           During her ninth and final molt, she spends her time finding food outside the hay bale and then returning to rest. Her wings and ovipositor have fully developed, and she's started to smell other crickets nearby. She can hear a few males chirping for a mate. After she finishes molting, she is finally a mature adult cricket which begins the next chapter of her life. She must reproduce.

            The female cricket begins searching for a suitable mate. The males chirp by rubbing their hind wings together to make a distinctive sound. One night, she encounters a chirping male whom she would like to mate with, but, due to her injuries, the male declines the mating offer. She must search for another mate. While searching, she is still eating lots of plants and can now eat smaller insects.

             One warm summer evening, she finds another male cricket who doesn't decline her mating offer. After they have mated, she parts ways with him and begins looking for a suitable place to lay her eggs. Once her eggs hatch and nymphs emerge, the nymphs need to survive which means the eggs need to be laid away from other predatory crickets. The female cricket finds a nearby area shaded by a big ragweed plant where she lays her eggs. She lays hundreds of eggs underground using her ovipositor which keeps the eggs protected. She has accomplished her goal in life.

             On her way back to the hay bale, a giant bird similar to the one she encountered as a young nymph appears. Because of her injuries, she can't escape in time and becomes prey to the bird. The cricket will become food for the bird's offspring, thus completing her life. Her eggs will hatch in a few weeks, if the conditions are optimal, and her offspring will fight to survive, just like her.

Resources

  • Fitzgerald, A. (2006). Field Cricket. Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/cricket.htm
  • Anatomy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://cricketcare.org/anatomy/
  • Life Cycle. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://cricketcare.org/life-cycle/
  • Chirping. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://cricketcare.org/chirping/
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQFEY9RIRJA
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