Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Got Dung?

We were out at our ranch today, and I saw a little roll moving along the ground. I went closer... and saw two dung beetles and a ball of... well... dung! They were busy rolling it along. WOW!

(mage from Wikipedia as I don't have a way to upload my photos right now)
Well, I got online and did a little research. I really enjoyed the Kids National Geographic site. First of all, I found out that our dung beetles are 'rollers'... they roll the dung into balls. (And, our beetles looked just like this photo.) They will bury these balls and use them for food or to lay their eggs in!

These beetles are helpful for livestock! They bury dung that might otherwise attract pests like flies. Also, they are returning useful nutrients to the ground! So, I was thrilled to find these two little helpful creatures on our ranch!

3 comments:

Dana said...

Wow, that's pretty cool! I've seen video footage of that but to see it in real life would be something else. Doesn't it make you laugh to know you get a kick out of beetles rolling dung? lol That's when you know you're a real nature nut. :)

Mama Teaching 3 said...

AWWW, man! My Remy has been dying to see this for himself for years. :) So cool!

Karen said...

We would love to see a dung beetle rolling dung too! I am grinning a little bit because who but homeschoolers would get so excited about this? We LOVE Fabre's Book of Insects and we so enjoyed reading his observations of the dung beetle.http://www.amazon.com/Fabres-Book-Insects-Henri-Fabre/dp/0486401529

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