Every morning, I check our air conditioning drip bucket to see if I need to rescue any one that fell in overnight. Last week, I found a beautiful rabid wolf spider and fished her out. Through the years, my rescuees have included ants, many click beetles, some spiders, and one ironclad beetle that I named Lazarus.
This morning, when I ducked my head out the back garage door to look into the bucket, I found a click beetle swimming at the top. At the bottom lay a lifeless ironclad beetle. I wish I'd taken a photo so you'd believe me. That beetle was ON THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL. Anyway, I pulled it out and lay it on a pillowcase. That's him/her belly up in the photos below. Now, remembering what had happened with my Lazarus friend in 2015, I had a suspicion that perhaps I might have me another Lazarus.
It sure looks dead, right?
Right before we left to go grocery shopping, I noticed the beetle's normal coloring had returned. So I put it in a larger container. Not to mention, I saw its legs move!
Sure enough, when we returned home, Lazarus 2 had fully revived! I took some photos and then set it free in a flower bed FAR away from the orange bucket. In October 2015, entomologist Mike Quinn hosted a long discussion about my remarkable beetle. Check it out. In the meantime, isn't nature JUST AMAZING?
3 comments:
So cool!
Yea for Lazarus 2! Why not put a mesh screen or some other sort of cover over the bucket so critters can't fall in?
Well, I tried the stick, and Lazarus 3/Knieval didn't use it. Don't have a strong enough screen handy. In the meantime, this beetle saga is kinda fun.
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