Unpredictable old guys (and gals)

It turns out that it is not just humans that change their personality as they get older. Older crickets show greater differences in behaviour between individuals than younger crickets. This is interesting as it fits with the idea that because older crickets have less reproduction in front of them they can behave more erratically without it having a big effect on their reproduction. 

We also found that crickets get more active as they get older.  This is in stark contrast to many animals (including ourselves). For a cricket this makes sense however; as the season progresses there will be less other crickets around and so it will be harder to find a mate. Being more active as you age ensures that you can keep moving around the environment, finding other crickets and mating with those of the opposite sex. Just as long as you watch out for robins!

We also found that how an individual ages did not differ greatly among individuals. This suggests that there are not multiple different strategies for getting older – we don’t find some crickets live fast and die young, and others take it steady, they all seem to follow a similar pattern.

Download our paper on this work here