It’s dark and freezing on the mountain. Dave Kavanaugh’s boots crunch on the icy snow. A black beetle suddenly runs in front of him. Kavanaugh shouts with joy. He has just seen a new kind of beetle. Kavanaugh is an entomologist. He


studies insects. A beetle is a kind of insect. It has two sets of wings. T e top set is hard. It covers and protects the second set. Some beetles use the second set to fly. He has seen beetles as big as his


hand. He has also squinted at beetles almost too small to see. He studies beetle habits and their life cycles. He knows that beetles will eat just about anything.


On the Hunt T e ice beetle is a carnivore. It eats meat, such as other insects. Finding prey on the icy, cold mountain isn’t easy, though. Most insects freeze in the snow. T e ice beetle doesn’t. A chemical


in its body keeps it from freezing. Yet it still has to hunt for prey. Luckily, the wind helps. It picks up insects that live lower on the mountain. It carries them up and dumps them onto the snow. T ey soon freeze. 4


NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


Hungry Hunters Not all beetles can live in such a cold place. Take the tiger beetle, for example. It lives in a warm rain forest. It has huge eyes to help it spot prey. It chases its prey. T en it attacks with its sharp jaws. T e ladybug is another kind of


beetle. It looks cute, but it’s deadly. T is bug can eat 60 aphids a day. An aphid is a tiny insect. A female ladybug lays its eggs in an aphid nest. When the eggs hatch, the baby bugs eat the aphids.


This ladybug swoops in to eat the aphids on this plant.


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