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Interviews by Floris Elementary Students Herc, the Hercules Beetle
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The Hercules Beetle Interview Maggie the Mealworm: ìOur good friend Herc, (The Hercules beetle) is in the studio with us now. We can ask him some questions we have now. Herc, will you tell us about your features, why you look the way you do? By the way this is Maggie speaking.î Herc: ìWell Maggie, I
have my claws/horns to protect
myself. We can get up to seven inches from
the tip of our ìhornsî to the end of our
abdomens. Our ìhornsî open and close when
we move. I also have a large exoskeleton to keep me
protected. Itís like a piece of armor! An
amazing thing I can do is fly.î Herc: ìI eat fruit, tropical fruit, of course. I mean who doesn't? We could eat for hours at a time.î Maggie: ìWhere does your kind live and in what kind of habitat?î Herc: ìWell ,my kind live in South and Central America and parts of North America right now. We Hercules Beetles live in rain forests. The rain forests have lots of fruit and trees. Plus lots of places for us to hide in.î Maggie: ìDo you know where you got your name?î Herc: ìAs a matter of fact I do. It comes from a Greek god ìHerculesî. This ìHerculesî was a strong person supposedly and that is where we got our name, because we are very strong also. We can lift and carry up to five pounds! If you humans could lift that much compared to your size, you could lift a fully loaded dump truck!î Maggie: ìIs there something that scientists have said about you that you don't like?î Herc: ìWell, yes. They say we walk like robots. They also say we are attracted to light. Well, that I guess is true, but that stuff I said about us walking like robots. That, they shouldn't say. I don't like it. They also say we sound like an airplane in flight.î Maggie: ìI know some important information about you and your kinds. You're one of the largest types of beetles. I also happen to know your scientific name. It is Dynastes hercules. Interesting, hhmm? I also know that if some one were to see you they'd think you looked like a creature from the dinosaur age.î Herc: ìThat's insulting too, the remark about me looking like a creature from the dinosaur age.î Maggie: ìCan you tell us anything about how you live?î Herc: ì We look for our
mates during the rainy season. The female beetles give
birth to live larvae. The larvae cycle last for about 20
months. Then we evolve into the pupa stage.
Afterwards, we become beetles. The name of our
subfamily is Dynastinae and there are over 1,800 species in
that category.î |
