Fabre's Insect Memoirs 4: The Clean-up Crew of Nature (Dung Beetles)

Author: Jin Chunyu (Korean)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Have you ever seen the comical sight of the dung beetle diligently rolling a dung ball? After the dung beetle shapes the dung of animals like cows or sheep into balls, it rolls the balls home or buries them underground. Therefore, in pastures with a high population of dung beetles, you can only see fresh dung, while older dung is rarely visible. However, on urban concrete roads, dung beetles struggle to survive, so children living in the city won't see them. As early as ancient Egypt, people were amazed by the dung beetles rolling dung balls and believed them to be the incarnations of gods who moved the sun and stars, thus worshipping them greatly. Entomologist Mr. Fabre was also very interested in dung beetles. Throughout his life, he studied many species of dung beetles, including the Spanish dung beetle with beautiful antennae, the shiny naked dung beetle, and the Sisyphus dung beetle, which averages nine brood chambers. Among them, the dung beetle known as the "Sacred Beetle," Fabre studied it for over 30 years. So now, let's join Fabre in studying the life of dung beetles!