Much of his enduring popularity is due to his marvellous teaching ability and his manner of writing about the lives of insects in biographical form, which he preferred to a clinically detached, journalistic mode of recording.

[citation needed] In doing so he combined what he called "my passion for scientific truth" with keen observations and an engaging, colloquial style of writing.

[3] In one of Fabre's most famous experiments, he arranged pine processionary caterpillars to form a continuous loop around the edge of a pot.

[6] In the English speaking world, he became known through the extensive translations of his work by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, carried out from 1912 to 1922.

His last home and office, the Harmas de Fabre in Provence is similarly a museum devoted to his life and work.