Analyn Cabras is a woman with a lot of “ists” behind her name. She’s a biologist. She’s a taxonomist. She’s a conservationist. And she’s a coleopterist.

Words ending in “ist” denote a person who practices, is an expert in, or who studies a particular subject. In Cabras’ case, it means she studies living things, categorizes them, and works to protect them. And the living things she focuses on the most are beetles.

Studying beetles is a pretty big field. Earth is home to more than 400,000 species of beetles. They are the largest group of animals on the planet. Beetles can be found on every continent but Antarctica. They can live where it’s hot, where it’s cold, where it’s dry, or where it’s wet. They range in size from the barely visible (feather-winged beetles) to the almost-too-big-to-hold-in-one-hand (titan beetles).

You’ll find Cabras looking for beetles on Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippines. High up in the rainforests, she spends her days sneaking up on tiny, iridescent beetles from the weevil family.

“You have to be very, very careful in approaching them,” Cabras says. Many beetles are sensitive to vibrations. Jewel weevils are no exception. “If they sense you coming, they fall to the ground. Once they fall to the ground, it’s almost impossible to find them.”

Belly up with legs tucked in, the beetles are tough to see among the leaf litter on the ground. This is just one of the lessons Cabras has learned from many seasons of fieldwork.