Summer has taken flight. The Autumnal equinox is now about one month away, and a few Perseid meteors may still be spotted straggling across the pre-dawn sky. But we know that summer’s coming to a close when something about the size and heft of a JetPuft marshmallow bonks you on the side of your head every time you step outside.
However, it’s not a marshmallow, nor is it a Japanese beetle or a June bug, although these are smaller distant cousins of the clumsy, gorgeous insect which is currently whizzing around our sultry skies right now. Especially if you have a fig tree, or if you happen to have rotting fruit lying about in your garden.
What you’re encountering is Cotinis mutabilis, and all three of these beetles belong to the family of insects called Scarabaeidae, or scarabs. Like the esteemed Egyptian scarab, Scarabaeus sacer, which was immortalized in gold, faience, soapstone and precious gems, the figeater or green fig beetle is a scavenger.
Pharoahs and their priests observed their local scarabs rolling spherical balls of herbivorous hoofstock poo, and came to believe that the scarabs kept the earth revolving, linking the insect to Khepri, god of the rising sun who was believed to roll the disk of the morning sun over the eastern horizon at daybreak. This is why the scarab persists as a powerful amulet worn for manifestation, development and effectiveness.
Dung-rolling scarabs extract liquid nutrients from the ball — perhaps a bit like funky wheatgrass juice — or bury the “brood” ball as a subterranean nursery where the females may lay a single egg. Sometimes, a male scarab will present a prospective mate with a brood ball as a gift, and she’ll climb on top and roll away in queenly style as he pushes from behind with his back feet, head down.
Today we know that, although dung beetles don’t have great eyesight (which is why their fruit-favoring cousins bump into us while airborne), they do see well enough to navigate by the light of the Milky Way and use the sun and moon as compass cues.
Scarabs populate the earth everywhere but Antarctica in many sizes and colors. Still, those buzzing low and slow around the San Gabriel Valley right now are perhaps the most splendid, bashing and flashing through the heat in a carapace of metallic emerald green with a golden hem. They do not bite, sting or pinch humans, although their barbed legs may accidentally scratch and startle.
The dung-rolling variety is a valuable recycler in cattle country from Texas to Australia to Africa, where they bury cow patties and keep the fly population down.
Closer to home, the adult figeater will indeed rip into ripe fruit, including fruit still on the tree, like a contestant in a Coney Island hotdog eating contest, and that’s sure to irk home gardeners who get apoplectic about hornworms on their tomatoes.
Adult figeaters will also feast on fallen fruit, reducing flies in your yard.
However, their larvae probably do not destroy your lawn, although they are mistakenly blamed for this; smaller scarab varieties are usually the culprits. Composters have an appreciation for these plump grubs, called “crawly backs,” because that’s how they locomote. Because their six feeble little legs can’t efficiently transport their unwieldy, sausage-like bodies, they flip over and scoot along on their backs, leaving little furrows as they go, before descending into the depths of the earth to transform into the grown-up, gleaming green beetles that will emerge from the soil next spring. The crawlies munch on organic matter and excrete nutrients.
This is one of the dilemmas that encourages many folks to move to metropolitan penthouses and buy their produce rather than attempt to cultivate their own.
Is it worth sacrificing some figs for vibrantly alive soil? It’s your call.
Meet #A514353 Pedro Pascal
- Male feline
- Breed: DSH
- Age: 6 years old
- Coloring: Charcoal gray coat with white paws, blaze, and “got milk?” half-‘stache
This leading man loves watching nature programs on TV, especially those featuring birds. He loves to shred his cardboard scratcher, is friendly with adults and kids, and doesn’t even mind being picked up and held. Note that Pedro is FIV positive, meaning that although he is symptom-free now, he will eventually experience immune deficiency. FIV may often be managed effectively with veterinary care. Adopt Pedro!
- Pasadena Humane
- 361 South Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91105
- 626-792-7151
- Adoptions by appointment, daily 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM
- Walk-in adoptions, daily 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Thanks to Darlene Papa for this next post.
Meet Kimba
- Male feline
- Breed: DSH
- Age: 6 years old
- Coloring: Pure white
- Vaxxed, neutered, chipped, In fine health
- Expert biscuit-maker
- Loves to be petted on his head
To learn more, visit www.lifelineforpets.org/kimba.html
Meet La Dolce Vita (alla doppo=double)
It means “the sweet life,” which is what these calico baby-sisters deserve. These two litter-box-trained kittens, about four months old, are spayed, microchipped, vaxxed, in perfect health, and need to be adopted together.
Their fur is a gorgeous Halloween-y mix of pumpkin orange, white and black.
For a meet-up, call 818-431-3486 or email [email protected]
Meet Reese’s
- Male canine
- Age: 1 year old
- Breed: Pitty mix
- Coloring: Pure white
- Good with people, especially kids
- Likes other dogs, possibly cat-friendly, but will need supervision
To learn more, visit the “adopt” tab at www.crustycrewrecue.org
Meet Charlie
- Male canine
- Breed: Husky mix
- Age: 4 years old (approx)
- Size: 75 lbs.
- Neutered
- Short, smooth coat
- Yummy cinnamon-toast coloring with white paws
- Knows key commands, loves to talk and, um, sing
- Affectionate, needs to be your only pet
This darling boy has spent most of his life in a cage, including a long stretch with a criminal hoarder. Remarkably, he has emerged from neglect with a sunny attitude. He craves sensory input because of his long deprivation and loves to roll and rub his back on textured cement. He will need some patience and kindness as he recovers, and the rescue will work with Charlie’s foster or adopter to provide training and advice.
To check in with Charlie, email [email protected]
Meet JoJo
- Female feline
- Breed: DSH
- Age: Four months
- Coloring: Tuxedo, black with white blaze and paws
- De-fleaed, de-wormed
- In fine health
- Must be an indoor pet
- Would ideally be homed with another kitten or cat
- Found crying beside a trash can!
Contact Lori at 310-490-6858 to meet JoJo.
Meet Wes
- Male canine
- Breed: GSD mix
- Age: 10 weeks old
- Coloring: Tawny face, black back
- Attentive and gentle
- Very interactive, loves to “relate”
- Cuddly and playful
- In fine health
See for yourself—here’s the viddy: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5TG1aDocLu0
Wes is one of a litter of 10 puppies delivered by their stray mom as soon as she was rescued. To meet Wes, call For the Love of Animals Dog and Cat Rescue at 626-524-1939 or email [email protected]
Thanks, Bonnie Barron, for this next post.
Meet Clark
- Male canine
- Breed: Heinz 57, some GSD features
- Coloring: Black and nutmeg with white blaze
- Age: 4 years old (approx.)
- Size: 60 lbs.
- Likes to hang out with girl-dogs
- Neutered and vaxxed
- Heathy and athletic
- NOT cat-friendly
- Rescuer will donate supplies
To meet this buff dude, contact Bonnie with Hope for Sweet Homes Rescue at 626-483-6936.
From Devore Animal Shelter
Honestly, we’re not picking on Devore to be mean. But the fact is that this shelter in San Bernardino is one of the region’s most overcrowded, with an unpublished kill-for-space rate.
Several of these animals were scheduled for adoption, then rejected because the animal developed a cough, cold, or sniffles in the shelter, which is very common. Much like human kids in preschool, animals admitted to a shelter are exposed to a massive wave of infectious microbes. Not to trivialize, but generally, a URI – upper respiratory infection—can be quickly resolved with antibiotics. Fostering or adopting an infected animal does require that you isolate the animal from your other pets, of course. The following animals may be found at Devore:
#A803931 Monterey, #A804354 Capri, #A803911 Melva, #A804355 Canelo, #A804383 Midnight, #A804426 Galvin, #A803706 Cedwyn and #A803704 Rakesh, #A804340 Dalia, #A804341 Iris, #A804407 Kailea, #A804408 Katie, #A804409 Kaylynne.
All photos in the following section are courtesy of networkingdevoresheltercats.org, an all-volunteer non-profit rescue organization.
- Devore Animal Shelter
- 19777 Shelter Way, San Bernardino, CA 92407
- 909-386-9820 – press 2 for Devore Shelter, then press 3 to speak with a shelter agent (rescues, press 1 to speak with a rescue coordinator, or email [email protected]
Meet #A803931 Monterey
Male feline, DSH, three months old, bright ginger crown and saddle with white face and belly. Age unknown, but quite young, perhaps three or four months old. Has upper respiratory infection, adoptable with a medical waiver.
Meet #A804354 Capri
Female feline, DSH, mixed calico-gray tabby with a white muzzle, seems younger than one year. Frightened, may hiss or react. Available to rescue groups only.
Meet #A803911 Melva
Female feline, DSH, gray tabby, two years old, has an upper respiratory infection, adoptable with a medical waiver.
Meet #A804355 Canelo
Male feline, DSH, cinnamon ginger tabby boy, three months old, has upper respiratory infection, adoptable with medical waiver.
Meet #A804383 Midnight
Sleek, black feline, gender unknown, believed to be about two years old.
Meet #A804426 Galvin
Male DSH feline, five years old, black body and crown with white paws, chest, mask and has upper respiratory infection, adoptable with medical waiver.
Meet #A803706 Cedwyn and #A803704 Rakesh
Female DSH felines, three months old, classic gray tabby markings, have upper respiratory infections, adoptable with medical waiver.
Meet #A804340 Dalia and #A804341 Iris
Female DSH felines, one-year-old, one gray tabby with alluring white eyeliner, one black and white with fabulous “Phantom of the Opera” mask. Rescued from a squatter’s hoard of 13 cats.
Meet #A804407 Kailea, #A804408 Katie, #A804409 Kaylynne
Female DSH felines, four months old.
These three sisters (only two shown in the photo) have soft charcoal-gray tabby markings.
