| Hey kids, if you held a contest to find the | | | | the antlers on a deer! They eat leaves and bark, |
| strongest animal in the world, who do you think | | | | but they can also deliver a powerful bite if you |
| the winner would be? Would it be an elephant? Or | | | | try to bother them, so it's best to leave them |
| maybe a giant squid? If we made all the animals | | | | alone. |
| the same size to make it a fair contest, the | | | | Some beetles even like to swim. Whirlygig beetles |
| winner is an animal that can lift 850 times its own | | | | swim around on the surface of the water, and |
| weight. Imagine carrying around 850 of your | | | | spin in circles if they're frightened. One fun fact |
| friends! | | | | about whirlygigs is that if they need to dive |
| Have you guessed it yet? The strongest animal in | | | | underwater, they take a bubble of air with them |
| the world... is a beetle! | | | | so that they can stay under! |
| Beetles are incredible insects. There are more | | | | Some cultures even see beetles as sacred. |
| species of beetle than any other group of living | | | | Scarab beetles are one kind of sacred beetle. |
| things. In fact, one quarter of all known forms of | | | | Another name for scarab beetles is dung beetles, |
| life on Earth are beetles! | | | | because they roll up a ball of dung, move it to a |
| Beetles all share the same basic shape: they have | | | | protected place, lay their eggs in the dung, and |
| a hard exoskeleton, a body with six legs, and two | | | | when the eggs hatch, the beetle larvae eat the |
| pairs of wings. The front pair is hard, like a shell, | | | | dung! They live in Egypt where the desert meets |
| and makes a protective cover over the delicate | | | | the farmland, and this is also the place where |
| inner wings. | | | | Egyptian burials take place. Because of this, and |
| We can usually tell beetles apart by this hard wing | | | | the baby beetles' habit of popping unexpectedly |
| cover. For example, one of the most famous | | | | out of a ball of dung, they came to represent |
| beetles, the ladybird or ladybug, has a red wing | | | | eternal life to the ancient Egyptians. There is even |
| cover with black spots. Some wing covers can be | | | | an ancient Egyptian story that says the sun is |
| extremely beautiful, in glittering metallic colours | | | | rolled across the sky by a giant scarab god! |
| that make the beetle look like a little jewel. A fun | | | | So next time you spot a beetle when you're out |
| fact about beetles is that they shed this hard | | | | for a walk, stop a moment to give it your |
| outer shell as they grow, and you can find empty | | | | respects. After all, beetles can lift more than any |
| shells attached to trees and the undersides of | | | | other animal, turn into submarines, and roll the sun |
| leaves if you look carefully. | | | | across the sky: that deserves a round of |
| The strongest beetle is the rhinoceros beetle, | | | | applause! |
| which gets its name from the giant horn at the | | | | Discover more kids science articles, look up |
| front of its head. The rhinoceros beetle is actually | | | | amazing fun facts, do animated science quizzes |
| the strongest animal in the world - it's the only | | | | with talking characters, meet friends in virtual |
| one capable of lifting 850 times their own weight. | | | | worlds, play games and do fun science activities |
| Even ants, which are famous for their strength, | | | | at Science Score - the world's most fun online |
| can only lift 50 times their weight. | | | | elearning product for kids. Join the thousands of |
| One of the scariest looking beetles is the stag | | | | kids to play with Science Score and do well in |
| beetle. Its jaws are so big that they look just like | | | | Science. |