Beginning and ending

A sunny afternoon awoke the inclinations of a pair of bloody-nosed beetles to achieve a quick conjunction before moving off in separate directions. The fertilized female with not require the services of the male any longer.

When I looked at the image I was intrigued to see that the male beetle's feet are edged with a lighter colour and I wondered if this was some sort of adhesive that allowed the male to grip the female's smooth carapace  more firmly. Turns out that is the case. All beetles have sticky feet that enable them to travel across a variety of surfaces  at any angle but in many species the males have extra-sticky pads to facilitate mating.

 The adhesion is created not by a sticky substance but by  three different sorts of hairs, with different shaped tips. They enable  him to stick if he moves his feet in one way, and to peel himself off if he moves them in another. 

Scientists have  created an adhesive tape based on the same principle. It doesn't involve any actual glue, but creates a bond, using an electrostatic intermolecular attraction known as van der Waals attachment force. Such adhesive tapes will work in wet or dry conditions, and cause no damage when pulled off - potentially invaluable for difficult situations such as under water or bandaging soggy wounds.
 (And another example of biomimicry)


There's something about this here (in palmetto beetles) and a fascinating highly magnified (and colourful) image of a beetle's foot here.


Extra image shows where a rabbit met its end: killed and plucked (or vice versa) by a buzzard, I imagine. Their breeding season starts around now so they need all the protein they can get. Other birds will find the fur ideal for nest lining.  In nature every loss is also a gain.