Courtship Is a Risky Endeavor

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Courtship Is a Risky Endeavor

In what looks like a still from a film noir, two male stag beetles clash against a shadowy dropback, deep in the oak forests of Russia’s Voronezh region. Their pitched battle for dominance, and for the chance to win over a nearby mate, unfolds during the brief summer period when these insects emerge from the undergrowth to reproduce.Photographer Svetlana Ivanenko says she traveled over 400 miles to capture this intimate scene. Her photograph won…