What kind of food does dung beetle eat?

Dung beetles are commonly known as dung beetles. There are more than 20,000 kinds of dung beetles in the world, which are widely distributed on the earth. They can be found on any continent except Antarctica. The most famous dung beetle (scarab) lives in Egypt. Let's take a look at what kind of food dung beetles eat.

What kind of food does dung beetle eat?

Most dung beetles feed on animal droppings and are known as "natural scavengers". They often make the droppings into balls, roll them to a reliable place to hide, and then slowly eat them. A dung beetle can roll a dung ball much larger than its body, so where there is a dung beetle, the feces will be cleaned up. During the breeding period, female dung beetles make pear-shaped dung balls and lay eggs in them. The hatched larvae feed on ready-made dung balls and do not break out until they develop into adults.

Is dung beetle a pest?

The dung beetle uses a shovel-shaped head and paddle-shaped antennae to roll the feces into a ball, sometimes as big as an apple. In early summer, the dung beetle buries himself and the dung ball in the underground chamber and feeds on it. The female lays eggs in the dung ball, and the hatched larvae also feed on it. Dung beetles can eat more food than their own weight within 24 hours, because it can accelerate the process of converting feces into substances that other organisms can use, so it is beneficial to humans and is considered to be the "cleaner" of nature.

What's the use of dung beetles?

Dung beetles can clean up animal faeces, suppress other faeces-eating pests, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the American Institute of Biological Sciences, dung beetles have saved the cattle industry in the United States $380 million a year in faecal cleaning costs. The original dung beetle breed in Australia only likes to eat small droppings such as kangaroo droppings rather than exotic cattle and sheep droppings. From 1965 to 1985, the Australian Federal Scientific and Industrial Research Organization launched the Australian dung beetle project. as a result, the problem of fecal accumulation in Australian pastures has been improved and harmful jungle flies have been reduced by about 90%.