Once they reach adulthood, great capricorn beetles, Cerambyx cerdo, have only a brief time left on Earth. The bulk of their lives, which can span several years, is spent as larvae and pupae, boring through wood and nibbling as they go, then hunkering down beneath the bark of sun-warmed oaks until the weather invites them back out. As grownups, the beetles—a longhorn species slightly longer than a human thumb—have a month or so, which they fill with the drive to leave offspring behind. Adults hardly eat, unless they’re sampling the…
