The brown hawk-owl is a nocturnal hunter that remains hidden away during the daylight hours. They live on insects but beetles are delicacies to them.

Beetles are constructed like miniature battle tanks. Their head and thorax are completely covered by a very hard shell. In addition, their front wings also have plates of armour that protect the soft abdomen. Even their leg segments are encased in thick armour.

All this hard armour makes a beetle tough to swallow. However, the hawk owls have learned how to surgically remove the beetle’s soft abdomen, leaving only the hard, indigestible parts behind.

Among the beetles victimized by the hawk-owl are the immense Japanese rhinoceros beetles. The horned head and thorax of the male resembles the fancy, horned helmets worn by high-ranking samurai in former days.

Rhinoceros beetles must know it is a dangerous place to be, but they are attracted to the sweet, nutritious sap of oak trees. The hawk-owl knows this all too well, and finds these big beetles easy prey. Source — Yomiuri Newspaper 2001-08-07

This teaches us a lesson!

We must be careful not to be enticed to visit places of danger. If we do, we might have to pay for it very dearly.

MY SON, IF SINNERS ENTICE YOU, DO NOT GIVE IN TO THEM. Proverbs 1:10

Let’s rather flee from temptations.

Neil Verwey JPNMSSN@aol.com