Read the notes carefully - it will give you a lot of information.
‘Battling beetles’ are so named because they battle to survive in a very harsh environment. They are 1-2 cm long and have a distinctive colour on their backs. They live in cold, damp environments where there are flat exposed outcrops of dark rocks and patches of stunted shrubs growing up through extensive areas of snow. The shrubs are less than a metre tall and have branches that are covered in a reddish, flaking bark. The shrubs’ leaves are very small. Battling beetles feed on the flaky bark pieces that have fallen on to the ground, or been blown onto the exposed rocky surfaces. The beetles have a lifespan of about five normal minutes however if they can consume enough food they will evolve and increase their life span by three minutes. There are three phenotypic forms of battling beetles – white, red and black. The main predator of the beetles is the battling-beetle bustard, a bird with good eyesight! Each year the battling beetles mate around day 100 of each year, however some beetles do mate later. Each beetle can only mate once a year and not all attempts are successful. The following phenotypes are available after mating. - red x red - red - white x white - white - red x white - black - red x black - either red or black - white x black - either white or black - black x black - either red, white, or black, but most likely black The battling-beetle bustards kill off a percentage of the population during their predatory period that usually starts on day 250 of each year. On average they eat more black beetles than white, and more white beetles then red. The year then starts again. You will start with 5 beetles of each colour. Shift and click the green flag while playing to activate 'turbo mode' (although the game will slow down when breeding time comes). Please comment if you have an idea that I should add.
