As the weather gets warmer (we've been hitting 30°C/86°F regularly for over a week), he's been on alert for bugs once again. Last week we spent the afternoon at the park in an area that hadn't been mowed in a while. He chased butterflies for over an hour, catching several in his long handled net.
Although we left the butterflies at the park, he still came home and tried to look them up in his bug encyclopedia.
Knowing that our neighbor is also interested in bugs, our son told him about his discoveries last year and his yearning to find a stag beetle or kuwagata. While the rhinoceros beetle has a large "horn" protruding from its chin, the stag beetle has pinchers that make it easily identifiable.
It turns out that the stag beetles come out much earlier in the year than the rhinoceros beetle - June versus August. And our neighbor had actually rescued one from a path in the park. These beetles often fall in the paths and get crushed by runners and bikers. He kindly gave the rescued beetle to our son, along with a large plastic jar he was using as a house for the little guy.
As soon as our son got him inside, he looked him up in his encyclopedia to confirm this stag beetle is a male and most likely full size. We are now making sure to always have bananas in the house, as this is what you feed stag beetles.
Too bad they don't have show-and-tell in Japanese schools, because I know my son would love to show off his new beetle.
No comments:
Post a Comment