Dung Beetle | San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers

Maybe your like

For Grown Ups
Glossary
Search

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers

Home
animals & plants
Videos
Stories
Activities
Games
save animals
Podcast
Search
Glossary
For Grownups

A dung beetle sitting atop a small ball of dung

Dung beetle Mighty recyclers Type

Arthropods

Area

All continents except Antarctica Endangered Status

Stable

facts

size .5-2.5 inches in length A gummy bear is 0.8 inches tall.

A dung beetle's size compared to a gummy bar candy

food dung Coprophage

Dung beetles eat liquid from animal dung. A few species only feast on the dung of carnivores, while others skip the doo-doo and instead eat mushrooms, carrion, and decaying leaves and fruits.

habitat all habitats except Antarctica

Dung beetles are found in grasslands, deserts, farmland, forests, and prairies.

description

Dung beetle rolling a small ball of elephant poo

Here's the scoop

You might want to stay away from animal poop, but dung beetles search for it! They use it for food and a place to lay eggs (so their young will have food).

By burying animal droppings (also called dung), the beetles loosen and nourish the soil and help control fly populations.

A juvenile African elephant, an example of an herbivore that makes dung beetle food

Eating leftovers

Most dung beetles use the droppings of herbivores, which do not digest their food very well. Their dung contains half-digested grass and a smelly liquid. It is this liquid that the adult beetles feed on. Dung beetles also lay their eggs in animal manure so their offspring have food to eat when they hatch.

A pair of dung beetles going to work on a pile of dung

Dirty business

Scientists group dung beetles depending on what they do with the droppings. There are tunnelers, rollers, and dwellers.

Going down

Tunnelers land on a pat of manure and dig down through it and underground. They bury a portion of the dung underground to keep it fresh. The female lays her eggs in the hidden treasure.

Dung beetle rolling a large ball of elephant poo

On a roll

A "roller" type beetle makes dung into a ball. Then it rolls the ball away and buries it. The ball might be used for a female to lay her eggs in. Or, it might end up as food for another time.

On top of it all

Dwellers simply sit on top of the ball of droppings. They lay their eggs in the dung. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the dung, too.

Quiz

True or False: A dung beetle can fly. False It can! Its wings are hidden under the hard covering on the back. True They take to the air to follow the scent of dung. Flying gets them there faster than crawling, too!