It’s beetle fighting season in Northern Thailand

It’s fight season … for Rhinoceros Beetles. The bugs battle on a wooden stage. Their horns lock as they push against each other until one backs down. People watch and place bets. Some wagers are as high as 100,000 baht.

From the start of wet season until winter, locals in northern provinces Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Lampang gather for beetle competitions. Many are farmers go back to their farms once the rainy season ends to harvest their crops.

There are fights for 4 different species of the beetle, known in the Thai northern dialect as “Kwang.” The beetles are placed on a wooden pole known as a Gon. A female beetle is place underneath, so the male beetles can smell her, giving them something to fight for. They fight until one of the beetles back down. A trainer says the beetles are “natural fighters.”

It doesn’t just take a strong beetle to win a fight. It also takes a smart one. 45 year old Sawang Sri-uan of Chiang Rai, whose beetle won him 6,600 baht, told the Bangkok Post his bug won battles by attacking the opponent beetle’s lower legs.

“I came here with a small group of friends who love the beetles. We brought around two or three beetles today and most of them were very strong.”

SOURCE: Bangkok Post