Friday, April 13, 2012

They Bite!

 [A brief reminder that my book, An Occasional Walker, is available at this link.]

A number of times now in Trinidad, Bolivia I have been attacked by giant flying beetles. The first time was so shocking I couldn't get a photo of the monster that came at me. Recently I got off one shot with a credit card-sized comparison for scale. I've seen bigger ones but I couldn't get photos as yet. This shot doesn't do justice to the thing that bashed into my arm and fell on the ground beside me. I tried to move him into better light for a snap shot, but he was uncooperative: he bit my shoe.


I don't mean like a spider or a bee. His head is about half the size of his whole piece, and he opened up like a Volkswagon, his head hinging from the neck half-way, and he got hold of the toe of my shoe and wouldn't-- maybe couldn't-- let go. I had to eventually bang him on the pavement to get him loose.

If the following isn't the same thing, he's a close relative:





The titan beetle (Titanus giganteus) is the largest known beetle in the Amazon rain forest and one of the largest insect species in the world. It typically lives in the rain forests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, the Guianas and north-central Brazil. Adult titan beetles can grow up to 6.5 inches in length. They defend themselves against predators by using their sharp spines and strong jaws. It is said that their mandibles can snap pencils in half and cut into human flesh.
http://newsdesk.si.edu/snapshot/titan-beetle

These things are thick in the air at night. They bite.

2 comments:

Epaminondas said...

And my wife wanted to go to the Pantanal!

Dag said...

Hi, Epa. Good to see you here.

I must point out that as much fun as it is for me to write about my small adventures in South America I hope to have a larger point over all, that being to draw attention to the craziness of our homeland drawn into a jungle of idiocy and infantalisation by professional minder the likes of which would not be tolerated in free country such as-- Bolivia!

I am amazed and made dizzy by the comparison between home and this poverty-stricken land ruled by a Communist idiot and his clique of Castro wannabees. Bolivia is a freer country than America. It's too impossible to ignore from here the brutal attack on our nation when one compares Bolivia to America. I just can't get over the contrast and that it weighs so heavily against America. It's the frog in the pot parable and I am out of the pit seeing my nation destroyed by minder lunatics and velvet fascism amok.

I happen to have a perspective from here that is unique, and I hope to show others just what we have lost over the years by comparing life here to home. We suffer without knowing just how terrible it is to have lost our freedom day by day since who knows when. Bolivia!? I just can't believe that I am here and have such a better life day by day without the madness of the police state the leftards have made of home.

That is the larger reason for writing this stuff, though the bug adventures are pretty cool for me too.

In summary, we can make America a free country again if only we can see what that is so we can think about wanting freedom. Yes, freedom has a price. I don't mind paying for it. Bugs are a small price.