They do nasty work, but they are another of the countless organisms that do the essential work breaking down the dead and ultimately recycling them. A few weeks ago, I came across a dead mink on my way up to the pond. Not sure what killed it, since it was pretty much entirely intact. I suppose an owl is the likely culprit, but it's strange that it was left behind. Hoping to maybe get an interesting skull out of it, I left it there to let the bugs and other critters do their thing. After a week or so, something else came along and took a chunk of it away (including the skull) and the carcass was crawling with bugs. Braving the smell, I stooped down for a closer look. Here's how it looked in the field:
I didn't have the desire (or the stomach) to get more of a closer look than that, but there were probably a dozen of these beetles throughout the carcass.
My field guide tells me that the adults feed on maggots, while the larvae feed on carrion "jerky", sinew, and skin. A related type of beetle (of the Genus Nicrophorus) prefers to "bury the bodies of small vertebrates, removing fur or feathers and fashioning the corpse into a meatball". Reading that got me in the mood for some spaghetti!
I brought one of these delightful insects home to take a picture in a more controlled (and less smelly) environment. So, here's a closer view:
I hope the next time you have spaghetti and meatballs, you'll think of this little (17mm) beetle.
Mmmmmmmeatballs!
3 comments:
Will
Enjoy both your and Teals natural history postings, Really cool and interesting stuff. BTW the beetles tastelike hickory nuts. Had to live on them for a week when we were trapped in the wilderness by a landslide. Salamanders always taste like chicken
The old man
Build yourself a little decomposition cage out chicken wire and put the deceased critters in there, that will keep the large scavengers from making off with your skulls but the beetles can get in. We had something like back at the office in TN. It helped that bears were more attracted to the dumpster instead of the decomp cage.
Hmm, that's an idea. I don't know if I'll ever come across a dead mink again though. I have found a couple owl pellets and picked out some mouse bones. My highschool bio teacher would be so proud of me.
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