the dung beetles

The dung beetles belong to the family scarabaeoidea, and are also known as scarab beetles. Those in the images below, are in the process of rolling the dung, after which they take it to a safe place and bury for consuming later.

dung beetle scarab

dung beetle scarab

They don’t need to eat or drink anything else as the dung provides all nutrients they need, including water.

dung beetle scarab

Date: 27 Sep 2007
Location: @ Bhoothathankettu, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
Camera: Nikon D80 + Tamron SP AF90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens | Olympus C770UZ + MCON-40 Macro Lens

28 Responses

  1. Happy Kitten says:

    Never knew about this until I read u.. I may have seen this scene before but not the way your camera and eyes has made us see it..

    nature is so wonderful.. and let me also thank nature lovers like you and Sarah for unraveling nature’s wonders….

  2. sandeep says:

    yet another informative post. the fact is, i remember most of these creatures in my childhood after seeing ur post 🙂

  3. Hey, its not from Wikipedia [[Insect]] or rather I put up that fact there, believe it or not, just yesterday!

  4. The first documented insect to figure in the historical record of human culture – scarabs! Not just Old Egypt but Ancient Greece and proto-Old World cultures too!

    Our forefathers were equally fascinated….

  5. bindu says:

    Nice pictures! I first read about dung beetles in Gerald Durrell’s books when I was young. Nice to see such good pictures of them!

  6. it’s really nice to see their life this close!

  7. rocksea says:

    PnA, Lakshmi, Elaine, Andy, Mridula, Indrani, Laura:

    🙂 the dung beetles are happy that you all appreciated their efforts.

  8. Great shots, beautiful colours 😀

  9. Indrani says:

    Interesting!
    Never seen the bugs so close.

  10. Mridula says:

    What a strange creature!

  11. Srilatha says:

    Recycling at its best !!!

  12. Andy says:

    Wow very cool! You are braver then me I would be afraid to get my camera to close!! 🙂

  13. Abhilash says:

    I do not know why but I am not able to view any images in my browser.

    I have seen dung beetles before but I would like to see yours. Any probs with the website. I will try it from another system tomorrow.

  14. Elaine- says:

    i had to go ewwwww at the thought of not eating anything els coz it gets alls the nutrients it needs from poo lol what a life!!! lol nice shots!!

  15. God is great! He has created life-forms that could live on anything and everything in this world, even sh1t..

    and he has even created bloggers who observe, study, photograph and make these creatures shown to the outer world through a completely different eye! 😛 …

    by the way, that thing is carrying a dung-piece 3-4 times its body size! He must be going regularly to gym, what you think Roacksea? 😉

    • rocksea says:

      Your thoughtful comments make me feel content. I am happy that I did my duty. I have a feeling that some readers are getting ideas for new ventures in the recession hit european job market.

      By the way, isn’t it time to bring those skills which you acquired at the gym?

      😛

  16. So a dung a day, keeps their hunger away ! 😀

    nice shot as usual!

  17. Guria says:

    Oh wow!! Great pictures! I had heard about dung beetles before! 🙂

  18. My god! the dung is too big for its size….. :))) Tall Ambitions, I say!!

    • Me thinks the other beetles n spiders are feeling a little left out. They may come n do a satyagraha in front of ur house… think they are already teaming up in ur balcony somewhere…:))))

      waiting for a new post

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