This photo shows two percussion musical instruments both used in Latin-American music.
On the left is a Cuban guiro made from an elongated gourd with a serrated surface which gives a rasping sound when scraped with the stick. It has a nice hole a the back which is just right for holding it while playing.
This guiro was kindly bought for me, in Cuba, by Vivian and Pam Cook who also love stag beetles.
On the right is a Brazilian reco-reco. It is a percussion instrument of Angolan origin, consisting of a length of bamboo with transverse notches cut into it and over which a wand is rubbed to produce a rasping intermittent sound. I bought this very fine reco-reco in Belém, Pará, Brazil, July 2002.
Stag beetle larvae have scrapers in their legs which they 'play' to communicate with their mates in a very similar way to the Cuban guiro or the Brazilian reco-reco. Man re-inventing nature?