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Herkimer is a giant replica of a male Hercules beetle, reported by KOAA as 16 by 10 feet, beside Highway 115 at the entrance to Rock Creek Canyon, Colorado Springs. The May Natural History Museum says he has been its trademark since 1952, that he marked the entrance to its exhibit in Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida, in the 1950s, and that he has stood at the canyon for more than sixty years. The museum says the statue is built at a scale of one foot to a quarter inch, making him 48 times larger than a real Hercules beetle. He was restored in 2022 and returned to his post on 6 June 2022.
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World's Largest Hercules Beetle
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Site-level location · 38.7292° N, 104.9314° W
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The story
Herkimer, a replica of a male Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules), once marked the entrance to a Florida exhibit. The May Natural History Museum, at 710 Rock Creek Canyon Road in Colorado Springs, says he marked the entrance to its exhibit at Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida, in the 1950s, has been its trademark since 1952, and has stood at the entrance to Rock Creek Canyon along Highway 115 for more than sixty years.
KOAA says he was originally crafted by John May in 1949, and that he has stood beside the highway since the 1960s. It reported his size as 16 by 10 feet and says wind, hail, snow and vandals damaged him over the decades. The museum gives his scale as one foot to a quarter inch, making him 48 times larger than a real Hercules beetle, and says real specimens can reach nine inches. The museum's 48-times scale and its nine-inch maximum for a real Hercules beetle do not obviously match KOAA's 16-foot size, and neither source explains the difference.
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WHAT TO EXPECT
Visible from the highway/museum entrance; the May Natural History Museum (Colorado Springs Bug Museum) itself charges admission.
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710 Rock Creek Canyon Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80926 (entrance to Rock Creek Canyon along Highway 115).
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