Starevich created Lucanus Cervus in 1910 while he was director of the Museum of Natural History in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Starevich had originally intended to film live stag beetles rutting over a mate, but the stage lighting in use at the time would quickly kill the nocturnal insects.
Instead, Starevich experimented with making articulated puppets out of dried stag beetle specimens.
He fitted them with wires glued to their abdomens by sealing wax, replacing their legs.
[4] Starevich animated these puppets with stop-motion to recreate their fighting behavior as accurately as possible.