Homosexually Humping Corpse-Eating Beetles Here For A Good Time, Not A Long Time

The burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides is famously good at parenting. In the leaf litter of forests around the United Kingdom, the beetles scurry around in search of the small carcasses of mice and birds. Once the beetles find a suitable corpse, they get to work. First they strip the carcass of its fur or feathers and disembowel it. Then they smear it with brownish-red antimicrobial fluid. Finally, they roll the flesh into a ball and bury it in the sand. Once under the soil, the corpse is ready to become a nursery for the beetle’s offspring—a putrefying rat refurbished into an artisanal crib. (Here is a photo of one such crib, if your curiosity is piqued.)

A nursery needs babies, and so the beetles must also get to a different kind of work. By this I mean the beetles must mount each other. If you are having trouble imagining this, please enjoy the art below.