Dung Beetle

Meet the dung beetle, nature's super-strong cleanup crew! While a pile of animal poop might make you say "eww," to a dung beetle, it's a delicious treasure. Using its excellent sense of smell, this shiny, round bug races to the pile, often rolling a perfect ball of dung that can be bigger than itself! It uses its strong back legs to push the ball across the ground, sometimes even doing a handstand to get the job done. This special ball is both food and a home for its babies. So, the next time you see one, remember that this tiny, powerful recycler is a true superhero, helping to keep our world clean and healthy!

DID YOU KNOW?

The Stars Align

Dung beetles are champion navigators! They can roll their dung ball in a perfectly straight line, even at night, by using the glow of the Milky Way galaxy as their map in the sky.

Super Strength!

They are one of the strongest creatures for their size on Earth! A dung beetle can pull over 1,000 times its own body weight. That's like a person pulling six full school buses!

One BIG Family

There are over 7,000 different kinds of dung beetles all around the world! They come in many shiny colours and not all dung beetles are rollers! Some are "tunnellers" who bury the dung right under the pile, and others are "dwellers" who simply live inside the dung pile itself.

photo of a dung beetle with a dung ball

Dung beetles collect dung for their young to feed off.

photo of a dung beetle with dung ball

Dung beetles will collect dung from almost any animal

photo of a dung beetle with a dung ball

Dung beetles come in all sorts of colours and sizes

photo of a dung beetle with a dung ball

Dung beetles collect dung for their young to feed off.

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Find out more about Dung Beetles

https://singita.com/2021/01/dung-beetles/

https://www.wildlifeact.com/blog/dung-beetles-telecoprids-endocoprids-paracoprids-kleptocoprids

https://www.krugerpark.co.za/krugerpark-times-20-dung-beetle-18101.html