Insect fighting

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Insect fighting is a blood sport involving insects. It is common in areas in China and Thailand. Like cockfights, there is a group of people who train and fight their insects against other insects in underground fighting arenas. Insect fighting is a traditional Chinese pastime that dates back to the Tang Dynasty of 618-907 and had long been mainly practiced by aristocrats, senior officials and wealthy merchants. It is also a casual activity for youth in western countries and it is done professionally.

1 Structure
2 Object
3 Gambling
4 In the media
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Structure

Individuals normally hoard many different type of insects for the battles. Some of the most popular bugs are the Stag Beetle, Rhinoceros Beetle, the Cricket and the Goliath Beetle, as their sheer size and jumping ability make them formidable opponents. They are trained by their owners to become stronger and more aggressive. Beetle fighting is popular in the northern region of Thailand ("Battle of the beetles a Chiang Mai tradition" by Sam Fang [1]). The most used beetle is the rhinoceros beetle. According to Sam Fung, there are at least two benefits from this:

Free entertainment, unless betting is involved.
Removing a pest from the environment.

A training method involves using supplemental feedings of sugar from sugarcane (their favorite food and nesting areas) to help the beetles grow bigger. After the training is complete, the owners will take them to the designated fighting arena and the bugs are forced to fight each other.

A small noisemaker is used that duplicates the female's mating call (fighting beetles are male). Getting beetles to fight requires patience and is much different than other types of animal fighting. The loser is pushed onto his back by the winner, pushed off of a limb, or a predetermined area.

[edit] Object

The fight can take place on a log, stump, or circle drawn in the dirt, anywhere that is a small ring. The ways to win these "battles" are by either one insect pushing the other out of the ring, one of them running out of the ring in fear (which happens very rarely), or one of them dying while fighting. The winner of certain tournaments may win up to the equivalent of one million U.S. Dollars.

[edit] Gambling

The actual training requires much time, effort and money from the owners, so to encourage more participation, spectators and owners can gamble their own and other insects.

[edit] In the media

In the Samurai Champloo episode Gamblers and Gallantry the character Mugen trains a stag beetle for combat by tying a large rock to it.
YouTube has many insect fight videos submitted by users.
The most common insect the Chinese use are grasshoppers or praying mantis (mainly Chinese Mantis). Sometimes the fight will be two different type of insect fighting it out in a make shift "arena".
The movie Jarhead (film) contains one scene where U.S Marines battle scorpions in the desert (though scorpions are not insects).