Hercules

What would you do if you were walking across a parking lot and see something on the ground about four inches long on its back struggling to turn over?  This happened to me while I was at work taking some paperwork to the front building.  First of all, I looked around to make sure it was safe for me to rescue this live creature (must always look out for cars!) and then I bent down and turned it over with the envelope that I was carrying.   Anyone observing me and hearing my intake of breath would have thought I had found a diamond ring.  It was a beetle with the most exquisite shade of olive green with black irregular spots and the largest black horn on its head with what appeared to be kind of  like a black "pincher" below the horn.  Look at a photo and you will see what I mean.  Well, I was amazed and very pleased that he had not gotten run over (very sure this was a male, I mean, come on that HORN), so I very quickly got him on my envelope (the very one that I am taking to the front building, remember) and take him over to some trees and bushes and I deposit him next to the trunk of the tree.

I then go to my computer and type in these words: large green beetle with black spots.  There is no doubt in my mind that it was an Eastern Hercules beetle and my sources say that it is the largest beetle in North America!  I will try to post a photo of it, but honestly, none of the photos that I have seen can convey the beauty of those black spots against that beautiful shade of green.

"The most common specimens today are dead ones, mounted and dipped in alcohol to retain the beautiful, natural color and markings of the live creature."

Ugh, isn't that just the sickest thing to read?  That came off one of the websites about "bugs".  I agree about the beautiful, natural color but I saw one when it was alive and I hope that I rescued it!  I found that many people upon finding one will keep it in a box and try to feed it and keep it.  Yes, it is beautiful but shouldn't we just try to let things live and not try to keep them just to look at them?  I loved the info from this website http://www.beetleidentification.net/

"The males use their horns in battle, where they go head to head for the right to mate available females. This is not a fight to the death, but these amazingly strong beetles will pick each other up and push each other around until one is more exhausted than the other."

For some reason, that made me like him all the more.   It surprised me how much it pleased me to find out about this beautiful beetle and to know that it was called a Hercules beetle.  It also reminded me of the Hercules cartoons that I loved so much as a child...so...I remember that you can type almost anything into You-tube and find a song. Success! I was able to listen to the theme song that I really liked from that cartoon.  I was curious to find who might have sung that song and would you be surprised to know that it was sung by Johnny Nash, the very same singer who had a big hit with "I Can See Clearly Now"? 

 There, you see the things you can learn when you try to rescue a "bug"?  Oh, and that is a female that I found a photo for you...the colors were better.  You can see a male one on any of the bug sites.