Wild Wednesday: American Beetle making a comeback

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Conservation efforts at The Wilds benefit creatures big and small including the first insect to be listed as an endangered species, the American Burying Beetle.  

Known to be one of the greatest decomposers, this carrion beetle was once prevalent across the United States. In 1989 it was placed on endangered species list after a steady decline that started in the 19 20's and 30's

"And it's theorized that with the declines of the passenger pigeons and extinction of the passenger pigeon Which is kind of the perfect size carrion species for breeding. Once that was depleted, all of a sudden, the source is gone and so they think that maybe the first hit." Genelle Uhrig, The Wilds "But then, with other things, such as habitat, loss development, agriculture, pesticides things like that have also caused the decline in their populations."

Now facilities are trying to bring the species back through breeding programs.

"Because we don't have brood stock here in Ohio we go to Nebraska, and we collect beetles. We are permitted to collect 60 Beetles or 30 pairs, 30 males 30 females."

"And so, we release them in various areas on site and then we monitor the population through trapping. We do a capture, mark, recapture study.  So, we put little tags on them when we capture them let them go and hope to get them at our traps again so that we can get population numbers."

The ultimate goal is to have them breed in the wild and reach a sustainable population.

To learn more about the American Burying Beetle and the work being done at The Wilds click here.