You know how you can walk past something a thousand times without ever really noticing it, but then once you’ve seen it once you start to see it everywhere? Well for me that thing is Tiger Beetles. Ever since I first spotted some by a river earlier this month I’ve been seeing them everywhere!

They’re such cool looking beetles with their amazing colours, bulbous eyes and their stilt like legs, they’re definately worth a closer look if you ever spot one. Here are some of the ones I’ve spotted so far.

I’ve only spotted three species so far, but Tiger beetles are actually a very large group of beetles with 2,600 species in total and at least 20 in Thailand, that I know of. So I’m hoping that I still have plenty more tiger beetles to spot!

Wanna know a little more about these cool little critters?………..go on, live a little!

Did you know that all tiger beetle species are predatory, and one of the coolest things about them is their speed. They can run fast, really, really fast. The fastest ones can sprint up to 5 miles per hour which is the equivalent of a human running at 480mph! (impressed yet!?)  Infact they run so fast that their world becomes a blur because their eyes cannot process information that fast, so they have to stop mid chase to spot their prey and then resume the chase again. It may sound like a flawed strategy but when you’re that fast what does it matter if you stop for a small break, the prey isn’t going to get away. Pretty cool, huh!?