A brute of a beetle

Summer is the time to look for a big beetle that is both beautiful and scary looking. It has a hard, shiny shell and a head with horns that make it look like a bug rhinoceros! In fact its name is rhinoceros beetle.

I photographed the one you see here last Saturday as it crawled very slowly to the end of a piece of wood on the side of an old building. This one was about 2 inches long.

There are several kinds of rhinoceros beetles in North America. Some are black, some are brown, but none are more striking than the one you see here.

It takes a bit of luck to find a big rhinoceros beetle. If you find one, you can pick it up. It will grab tight to your finger with its clasp-like toes.