Insect Picture of the Day

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Everybody give a warm welcome to Rich Jakiel, who debuts here today with a great picture and an even better story. I admit that I am biased: I love science stories. And Rich’s science is the best kind of science story.

If I tell you the name of a bug, you get a word for it, but what do you really know about the bug? Nothing but a word. Worse, you might now think that you know all about the bug, and you miss out on all kinds of fascinating knowledge: how it looks, how it behaves, how it interacts with its environment. You miss out on things like “what is this bug trying to do right now, and why do you think it’s doing that?” You miss out on all kind of interaction behaviors, like “what happens if I do this?” And most importantly, you miss out on the opportunity to ask questions and then seek the answers, which is the ultimate building block of science, really.

The awesome thing about this question process is that you and I formulate different questions. This stag beetle is about 4cm long–nearly an inch and a half. I look at it and wonder “can it fly?” You might look at it and ask, “is it aggressive or defensive when I get near it?”

Not Rich. Rich took one look at those pincers and asked, “how hard can they pinch?” Here’s his own account of the story:

I put my finger between the mandibles and he decided to attack. The stag beetle latched on and bit the [censored] out of me. It sunk those needle-like mandibles a good 1/8″ or more and drew copious amount of blood. It was like a bug bulldog and wouldn’t let go.

Rich’s full account is here (Warning: strong language).

Thank you, Rich. Great picture, and AWESOME Science Story!