One of the great advantages of living in the middle of
nowhere is that you can marvel at the wonders of nature. There is nothing like seeing a big red
kangaroo skip away against the backdrop of a Kimberley thunderstorm.
It is not just majestic creatures like kangaroos that
capture my attention, the humble dung beetle is also an incredible animal in its
own way. Consider how the dung beetle
goes to work on the pile of dung shown in the photo below, in this case from a
horse.
In only a few short hours it is converted into basically a
powder as shown in the photo below. This
makes life a lot more pleasant for everyone and every animal in their
surroundings, importantly reducing the breeding ground for flies in addition to
the aesthetic benefits.
It seems there is a lot more to the dung beetle than meets
the eye. Dung beetles are one of the few
animals that use the stars to navigate. Included
in this exclusive club with dung beetles are some birds, seals and humans. As reported in a recent edition of The Economist, it seems that dung
beetles navigate by being able to identify the cluster of stars that forms the
Milk Way.
Further Reading
Stars in their eyes.
How dung beetles navigate. The Economist, January 26th –
February 1st 2013, p67.
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