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The GPS-navigated rolling of the dung beetle

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Found on every continent, except Antarctica, dung beetles help their ecosystems by consuming dung, also known as poop. They form it into balls and roll it away. How do they know where they’re going? They use the sun, moon, and stars to navigate their route. From Flight of the Dung Beetle, narrated by Sir David Attenborough:

“From all across the galaxy, the light of billions of stars finds its way to Earth, passes through our atmosphere, and enters the eyes of a small South African beetle rolling a ball of dung.

“The beetle’s eyes are not sensitive enough to pick out individual stars but it can see the Milky Way as a fuzzy stripe, streaking across the night sky. With two of its four eyes, it gazes into the guts of our galaxy, and uses starlight to find its way home.”


Via the San Diego Zoo:

“Scientists group dung beetles by the way the beetles make a living: rollers, tunnelers, and dwellers. Rollers form a bit of dung into a ball, roll it away, and bury it. The balls they make are either used by the female to lay her eggs in (called a brood ball) or as food for the adults to eat.

“Tunnelers land on a manure pat and simply dig down into the pat, burying a portion of the dung. Dwellers are content with staying on top of the dung pat to lay their eggs and raise the young.”

dung beetle
Related reading: “The poop-hoarding insects have an amazingly advanced internal GPS that allows them to navigate by day or night.”

Watch this next: Why isn’t the world covered in poop?

Plus, enjoy more beetle videos and poop videos.


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