5 Facts About Dung Beetles

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1. Dung beetles use the dung for eating and breeding.

Dung beetles eat the dung and also use it to lay eggs. They usually prefer the dung of herbivorous animals, but a study suggests that they prefer omnivores' dung the most. Adult dung beetles feed on the liquid present in the dung while juvenile dung beetles feed on the solid dung.

Female dung beetles lay the eggs on the dung and the development of young takes place inside the dung.

2. They dance on dung pellets to orient and cool themselves.

Dung beetles exhibit a certain behaviour which is dancing on top of their dung ball, During the dance, the beetles climb on top of the dung ball and rotate about their vertical axis. Dung beetles use the sun, moon, milky way and polarized light to navigate. Dung beetles dance on dung balls to orient themselves using these cues and move in a straight line.

The dance is also used to cool themselves. While rolling the dung ball on a hot surface such as desert sand, dung beetles climb too often on top of their dung ball to dance,

3. There are four groups of dung beetles.

Dung beetles are divided into four groups:

Rollers or Telecoprid

They make balls of dung which they roll to a suitable place and bury in a burrow.

Tunnelers or

Tunnelers locate the dung and make a tunnel beneath it.

Dwellers

Dwellers neither roll the dung nor make a tunnel beneath it. They live and lay their eggs in the dung, Although it requires no work like rolling or tunnelling, they are at higher risk of being eaten or walked over by other animals.

Stealers

Stealers locate the dung balls of other dung beetles and lay their eggs in them. Even the larvae of these beetles have been seen to kill the host beetle larvae during development.

4. They use the sun, moon and milky way to navigate.

Dung beetles are known to use the sun and the moon as visual cues to navigate. The more interesting thing is that they are also the only animal known to use the milky way as a visual cue to navigate, This is evident from an experiment that scientists conducted on dung beetles in which they placed a small hat on the beetles to block the view of the sky. As a result, the beetles just wandered around rather than going in a straight line.

5. They are incredibly strong.

Dung beetles are incredibly strong creatures. On average, dung beetles can roll up to 10 times their own body weight but the males of Onthophagus taurus are unbelievably strong. They can pull up to 1141 times their body weight.