At the same time each year the Eastern embankment of the river Ping in the small town of Chiang Mai turns into a fairground for Rhinoceros beetles for about a month. The "Kwang Song" (or Xylotrupes gideon L. from the Scarabaeidae family) that has become a menace in Thailand, has its "rutting season". Innumerable little men fired with the passion of mating cavort in the koruna trees of the jungle in Northern Thailand in search of lovers. And just as it is for jealous young men, the numerous declarations mean there is a fight for the "Love night".
Originally, only the children played in the countryside with the courting stag beetles as a pastime. In the meantime this has become something for grown-ups as well as a lucrative business.
Depending on its size and aggressiveness, a beetle can get between two and four Euros in the market in Chiang Mai. For tried and tested champions, people may even pay up to 200 euros. And despite the state and regal ban on the game, a few coins inconspicuously change hands after a dual.
What to us in Europe is regarded as cruelty to animals does not give the Thai people a bad conscience. The Rhinoceros beetle larvae kill hundreds of banana trees and coconut palms each year in the South and are considered to be pests in Thailand because of their superior number. When the Rhinoceros-beetle weeks begin in Chiang Mai, after the planting of the rice, a right little industry develops. The beetle dealers arrive from the surrounding villages at the weekends to sell their wares to the highest bidder.