Rescued Beetle on a Lettuce Leaf
A beautiful beetle was drowning in a sprinkling can. I filled up the can, so the beetle was able to crawl out. It was so exhausted from floating in the water for such a long time that it lay still on the top giving me time to study that poor little thing. I quickly got my movie camera and placed the beetle on a lettuce leaf. By now it had become active and was looking for a way to get off the lettuce leaf. Much later when I was editing the video clip, I discovered that apart from almost having drowned in the sprinkling can, the beetle also suffered from an invasion of lice that were roaming all over him. I wanted to help it get rid of these little pests but when I returned the next day to the garden the beetle was gone.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 
Hello Peter – I’m sure someone with some expertise will I.D. this critter, but looks like a carrion or burying beetle. Pretty snazzy-looking!
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I had lots of help to identify the beetle. But I am still not sure of its true identity.
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Beautiful beetle, that looks like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicrophorus_investigator#/media/File:Orange_and_Black_Beetle.jpg
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Thanks for the link!
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You are welcome, Peter. 😋Hazel
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What a good, kind soul you are to devote so much to saving the beetle? How do you know those were lice? And can you give a sense of how big he was? Hard to tell how small the leaves were!
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We need to recognize that all life is part of God’s creation and therefore needs to be respected and cared for as much as possible. As I mentioned elsewhere, these were not lice that invaded this poor little beetle that was about 1/2 inch in length.
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I must have missed that comment about the lice. I need to go back and see. And yes, I agree. I am one of those who takes insects I find inside and frees them to the outside instead of stomping on them. Except ticks. I hate ticks. 🙂
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Ticks can be very harmful and spread dangerous diseases. So your dislike and mine are understandable.
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A grand specimen! Good that you were there in time to save it. It did not seem to like the lice at all …
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Yes, I already got corrected by Cornelia on the ‘lice’ I saw in the beetle.
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Yes, but they are not ticks either …
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You are a good man to save such a small creature. I think we humans too readily forget all creatures have a place in nature and we all need each other.
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Thank you, Su!
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I think his name is Roger. There’s a beetle here at my place that says he had a second cousin who moved up to Canada…
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Haha! Very funny, my friend!
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First of all, blessings to your kind heart, Peter, second maybe they are not lice, because once I spotted lice on my cat they didn’t have those long legs maybe they are ticks. Third what a great close up video. My question to you is from what source do you retrieve the music, I am sure you don’t pay royalities ( oops wrong spelling) for that. Thank you for sharing your rescue attempts.
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I was wondering about the lice too. Now that you mention your observation I am sure these were some other critters that had settled on this little beetle. Its size would be about one cm in length so it was quite small. As to the music, I have an archive of royalty free music. I also joined freesound.org, where you have access to royalty-free music that members have created. Thank you for your kind comment, Cornelia!
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Peter, thank you so very much for your suggestion of that link of royalty free music, I really appreciate that. I will give it a try. Have a great enjoyable weekend with Biene.
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You are very welcome, Cornelia!
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It’s good to watch the video for a change. Your video making skills are equally good. Is autumn about to arrive?
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The smoke in the air from forest fires in the US gives definitely an impression of fall.
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That’s bad. I wonder why we’re seeing so many forest fires this year across the world.
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That’s so sad. We hope you don’t get any forest fires, Peter.
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So far we have been very lucky. Now with the cooler weather there is hope that we won’t get any.
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Great job capturing a little piece of life-and-death drama in your yard, Peter, just a small example of what occurs every day. It’s funny how we get involved at many levels to pick sides in the daily struggle to survive. I occasionally do the same thing to save some poor creature, although I often never learn the actual outcome. I really enjoy your videos.
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Albert Schweitzer with his plea to respect all life has been my inspiration. Thank you, Des, for your insightful comment!
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I don’t believe I’ve ever seen lice on a beetle. If there had been two beetles, perhaps they could’ve pulled off each other’s lice.
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I’m so glad you saved the beetle! That was very kind of you. And I’m wondering if it those were lice, or something else? Hopefully, since you didn’t see it again, the beetle made a complete recovery and went on it’s way!
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Mostly they were not lice, as I have been informed.
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Everything’s right on this film, Peter. The length, the music and the wonderful macro work. I enjoyed reading the engaging comments as well. Wishing you a great weekend. Xx
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Have a great Sunday! Thank you!
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Ist es nicht ein bienenkäfer?
Liebe grüsse
Gerhard
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Correction 🙂
Should be Necrophorus vespilloides.
Take a look at kerbtier.de:
https://www.kerbtier.de/cgi-bin/deFSearch.cgi?Fam=Silphidae
Greetings
Gerhard
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Thank you for the correction! I guess the beetle belongs to the variety that is known here as the dung beetle.
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Yes you’re right.
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