{"id":426428,"date":"2010-03-12T14:39:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T18:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22675618.post-4094497645459449265"},"modified":"2010-03-12T14:39:00","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T18:39:00","slug":"museum%e2%80%99s-beetle-%e2%80%98shot-down%e2%80%99-by-victorian-collector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/426428","title":{"rendered":"Museum\u2019s Beetle \u2018Shot Down\u2019 By Victorian Collector"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>telegraph<\/a> – The Goliath beetle, from Africa, is housed at London’s Natural History<\/a> Museum.<\/p>\n

Staff at the museum became puzzled by small circular holes in the giant bug’s tough carapace.<\/p>\n

But it was only when cameras started rolling for a BBC documentary on the museum that the mystery was solved.<\/p>\n

Forensic scientist Heather Bonney confirmed the beetle had been shot.<\/p>\n

Her investigation identified entry and exit wounds, and X-rays revealed a shotgun pellet still inside the the body.<\/p>\n

The positioning of the wounds showed the beetle was in flight when it was bagged, but the pellets hit the creature’s back and not its underside.<\/p>\n

Experts think it must have been performing one of the high aerobatic displays that make Goliath beetles notoriously difficult to catch.<\/p>\n

Beetle curator Max Barclay said: ”Our collections are full of mysteries and every year scientists are discovering more about them and using them as evidence to help understand the world around us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

”The number of new discoveries just waiting to be made in these collections is astronomical, and every one of the museum’s 70 million specimens has a story to tell.”<\/p>\n

Goliath beetles belong to the scarab family and are one of the largest insects on Earth, growing up to 4.5 inches long and weighing as much as 3.5 ounces.<\/p>\n

The Natural History<\/a> Museum specimen is 3.9 inches long and described as being about the size of ”a large sparrow or small blackbird”.<\/p>\n

Museum’s Beetle ‘Shot Down’ By Victorian Collector<\/a><\/p>\n

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