28/04/2021 Krishnappa Chandrashekara delivering a lecture during the ‘Being Social’ symposium organised by the author’s students in June 2013 at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc. Photo: RG Lab Collection The evolutionary biologist and polymath J.B.S. Haldane is said to have remarked that “The universe is not only queerer than we imagine but queerer than we can imagine.” And one of those many queer things is that there are more species of beetles than any other kind of animal on our planet. This queer fact also apparently did not escape Haldane’s notice and repartee. Replying to theologians who inquired if there was anything that could be concluded about the Creator from the study of creation, Haldane is said to have quipped, “An inordinate fondness for beetles.”