Dung Beetle

Three strategies

Dung beetles use three strategies for exploiting dung:

Rollers — form a spherical ball from the dung pile, then roll it in a straight line away from the pile (to avoid competition), bury it, and lay a single egg inside. The larva feeds on the dung as it develops. Scarabaeus sacer is the iconic Egyptian roller.

Tunnellers — dig a burrow directly beneath a fresh dung pile and pack dung into chambers where eggs are laid.

Dwellers — simply live and reproduce inside the dung pile itself; the smallest dung beetles.

Navigation

Rolling dung beetles navigate in straight lines away from the dung pile — crucial for escaping the competition that gathers around fresh dung. They use multiple navigation cues: the position of the sun by day, the lunar polarisation pattern by night, and — remarkably — the Milky Way. Research published in 2013 demonstrated that Scarabaeus satyrus can navigate by the light pattern of the Milky Way, making it the only known insect confirmed to use galaxy-level celestial navigation.

Egyptian sacred scarab

In ancient Egypt, the scarab (Khepri) was the god of the rising sun and transformation. The Egyptians observed the beetle rolling its dung ball across the desert and interpreted this as the sun being rolled across the sky. The scarab hieroglyph means “to become” — the beetle rolling its egg-filled dung ball represented rebirth and transformation. Scarab amulets were placed over the heart of the deceased to protect the soul in judgement.

Ecosystem services

Dung beetles provide measurable economic value through their ecological function. By burying livestock dung, they recycle nutrients back into soil, reduce populations of dung-breeding flies (including the buffalo fly that costs Australian cattle industries billions annually), and prevent parasite transmission. In regions where dung beetles have declined, the loss of these services has been significant.