Beetle Rolling A Ball

[T_Dog]

Was bicycling up near Wat Doi Kham in Chiang Mai and ran into these two beetles rolling a ball of something across the road. The ball is about an inch in diameter. Quite amazing. Anyone now what kind of beetles these are and what they were up to? I have heard of dung rollers but this was near the top of a mountain, no cattle within several kilometers.

[LeungKen]

Not all dung beetles feed exclusively on dung, nor just cattle dung.

Wikipedia is as good a place as any to start your identification process to confirm if this critter belongs to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dung_beetle

[zorro1]

Well done, I wish sometimes I could pay that much detail to my surroundings but not much dung around sukhumvit unless they do elephant poo

[PhilHarries]

Look like dung beetles.

Dung beetles live in many different habitats, including desert, farmland, forest, and grasslands. They do not like extremely cold or dry weather. They occur on all continents except Antarctica.

Dung beetles eat dung excreted by herbivores and omnivores, and prefer that produced by the former. Many of them also feed on mushrooms and decaying leaves and fruits. They do not need to eat or drink anything else because the dung provides all the necessary nutrients. The larvae feeds on the undigested plant fiber in the dung, while the adults do not eat solid food at all. Instead they use their mouthparts to squeeze and suck the juice from the manure, a liquid full of micro-organisms and other nutrients (as well as the body fluids from some unlucky animals such as dung-feeding maggots that sometimes get trapped between their mandibles).

Most dung beetles search for dung with the aid of their strong sense of smell. Some of the smaller species, however, simply attach themselves to the dung-providers to wait for their reward. After capturing the dung, a dung beetle will roll it, following a straight line despite all obstacles. Sometimes dung beetles will try to steal the dung ball of another beetle, so the dung beetles have to move rapidly away from a dung pile once they have rolled their ball to prevent it from being stolen. In 2003, researchers found that one species of dung beetle (the African Scarabaeus zambesianus) navigates by using polarization patterns in moonlight. The discovery is the first proof that any animal can use polarized moonlight for orientation.

The "rollers" roll and bury a dung ball either for food storage or for making a brooding ball. In the latter case, two beetles, one male and one female, will be seen around the dung ball during the rolling process. Usually it is the male that rolls the ball, with the female hitch-hiking or simply following behind. In some cases the male and the female roll together. When a spot with soft soil is found, they stop and bury the dung ball. They will then mate underground. After the mating, both or one of them will prepare the brooding ball. When the ball is finished, the female lays eggs inside it, a form of mass provisioning. Some species do not leave after this stage, but remain to safeguard their offspring.

The dung beetle goes through a complete metamorphosis. The larvae live in brood balls made with dung prepared by their parents. During the larval stage the beetle feeds on the dung surrounding it.

<edit : Souce Wikipedia>

Edited August 25, 2008 by PhilHarries

[GungaDin]

Dung beetles: the best insect ever introduced into Australia!

[T_Dog]

Thanks all for the information! Very helpful. I also shot a short video of the rolling itself, and when I showed it to my girlfriend, she was all smiles with memories of seeing dung rollers as a child in her village. I am going to have to try to post the video on YouTube. Thanks again for your comments and info.