Image Details

PHOTO BY BERNARD DUPONT; CC BY-SA 2.0

GREAT BALLS OF DUNG. Dung beetles roll feces into a ball. While all dung beetles belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea, different types of beetles use the dung differently. Rollers use it for food and laying their eggs. To ancient Egyptians, the ball of dung suggested the sun disc, and young beetles emerging from it reminded them of the sun’s generative powers.