Tuesday 10 May 2011

Milly: What lies beneath....


Ever wondered why you very rarely see dead animals strewn about the countryside? Perhaps not. Whilst gallivanting around the South of France last week I got out my camera and set off into the bushes with a stick hoping to find some animal to molest. There were none. Next door's cat, aptly named Professor Kitten, had made a discovery and was gleefully tossing about a mouse that was discarded after less than 10 minutes. The next day, I went to see what became of the mouse but found nothing. At first I thought the Professor had been back to finish his meal, but then I remembered something I had read a while back featuring a disturbing creature, the sexton beetle. Working together, a male and female beetle take good care of their young by providing them with a tasty corpse to feast on, buried underground and hidden from predators.

To see the beetles in action have a look at this video.



So next time you're out having a nice stroll in the countryside, make sure you tip your hat at the sexton beetle for clearing away the corpses.


3 comments:

Tania Hershman said...

Oh wow, now that is truly gruesome and absolutely fascinating! Thanks for that, I feel my knowledge has been satisfyingly expanded!

Milly said...

You're very welcome. I think the words 'gruesome' and 'fascinating' sum up quite a lot of biology rather well!

Anonymous said...

Wow Milly you've opened my mind to the Sexton beatle.
What a 'sexy' little chap!