Beetle juice, beetle juice… 🤫.
American burying beetles use their bodily secretions to preserve dead animal corpses that they’ve buried underground. Once they’ve put the animal to rest, the female lays her eggs on the body. The beetle couple later feeds it to their babies.
Gross? You bet! They’re creepy, crawly, and oh-so important to the natural world. Learn how we’re working with partners to protect this magnificent creature:
It’s the perfect weather to bury a body. On a clear morning in late June, when the salty, sweet air is still cool, a field crew arrives with shovels in hand at a grassy field on Block Island, just off the coast of Rhode Island. They dig rows of holes, about a foot in diameter, and one crew member …
