Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Poop Roller aka Dung Beetle at Work

It has been years since I've seen a poop roller (aka Dung Beetle). When I was out for a walk at home with Brownie, one comes crashing out of the weeds and rolling quickly across the road right in front of us! I grabbed for my camera and got down close to the fella. He scrambled quickly away from his poop ball, so I backed off a little bit.

He went right back to it and got in position behind it with his back legs as the ones to grab and push the ball and his front legs to do the walking forward (although he is actually moving backwards).

Here's a little closer look at him (he was really moving fast) and you can see how he is grabbing with his back legs as his beetle head is near the ground and he is using his front legs to move forward.

You've got to admire his industriousness and thoroughness in rolling that poop into a nice, tight ball (getting his head a little dirty in the process) and how quickly he's trying to get that ball home to his family.

So there you have it--a day in the life of a dung beetle. Not the most glamorous of jobs, but he does it quickly and well. I liked watching as I found it very interesting and quite fascinating (and one of those things that you just can't make yourself look away from).

1 comment:

The Urban Cowboy said...

Ha! Poop Roller! Haven't seen one of those in YEARS.