Male stag beetle, 13th June 2012

A male stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) on the Science Museum in London, sighted shortly before midnight. A pleasure to see, but I never expected to class it as part of Central London\'s urban wildlife (outside gardens).

Photo taken on 13th June 2012, shortly before midnight.

Wow! Good sighting!

The perspective really makes it look like a still from a horror film

it is a most excellently creepy image, almost as if the beetle is waiting to leap out at the approaching victim.....

I think that this is a classic photo. It does look like a scene from a classic monster movie as Pygathrix and Chlidonias pointed out.

I wonder what the beetle would want if it leaped out at the guy walking by? According to Wikipedia stag beetles eat tree sap and decaying fruits.

"Okay buster, give me your tree sap and decaying fruit and nobody gets hurt!"

The giant mutant stag beetles don't eat decaying fruit and sap - they eat people

Pygathrix said:

The giant mutant stag beetles don't eat decaying fruit and sap - they eat people

Click to expand...

Do they like fresh people or processed people (AKA "Soylent Green")?

Haha, thanks guys. It was a real treat to find on my walk home - even if I ended up running back in terror.