Post by ayjay on Sept 18, 2015 8:51:38 GMT
I spend most of my spare time bimbling around the New Forest, usually either bird, butterfly or dragonfly watching (depending on the weather and season) but like most of you (I expect) I take an interest in anything else alive which presents itself for observation.
I see a good number of these particular beetles around, (pic below), I think they are Dor beetles, it's not unusual to find one upside down waving its legs in the air and I always stop and flip them back over. One day last week on a shortish walk of about a mile (through Holmsley Inclosure) I must have seen over 100 that were dead and more than 20 that I flipped back over, one in particular seemed unable to stay on its legs and after the third time of flipping it over I gave up and left it to its fate.
I started to wonder about what was happening and so did a little internet research and came up with the fact that these beetles walk by pumping blood around their legs, when they are nearing the end of their lifespan the blood is not pumped as strongly as it needs to be and so they are unable to function correctly which is presumably why with so many dead ones around I was also seeing so many upside down and struggling to right themselves.
The question is, should I continue to flip them back over or is it kinder(?) to just leave them to their inevitable fate?
IMG_8690-c-r-f by Wabi Gallery, on Flickr
I see a good number of these particular beetles around, (pic below), I think they are Dor beetles, it's not unusual to find one upside down waving its legs in the air and I always stop and flip them back over. One day last week on a shortish walk of about a mile (through Holmsley Inclosure) I must have seen over 100 that were dead and more than 20 that I flipped back over, one in particular seemed unable to stay on its legs and after the third time of flipping it over I gave up and left it to its fate.
I started to wonder about what was happening and so did a little internet research and came up with the fact that these beetles walk by pumping blood around their legs, when they are nearing the end of their lifespan the blood is not pumped as strongly as it needs to be and so they are unable to function correctly which is presumably why with so many dead ones around I was also seeing so many upside down and struggling to right themselves.
The question is, should I continue to flip them back over or is it kinder(?) to just leave them to their inevitable fate?
IMG_8690-c-r-f by Wabi Gallery, on Flickr
