D for dung beetle
D is for... dung beetle!
Dung beetles' lives revolve around - you guessed it - dung! They eat it, and lay their eggs in dung balls that they bury in the soil.
Fact:
Did you know that a single elephant dung pat can attract 4,000 dung beetles in 30 minutes?
Another fact:
The Ancient Egyptians thought dung beetles were sacred. They made carvings in the shape of these beetles.
Why did they think dung beetles were so special?
They thought dung beetles were sacred.
The Egyptians worshipped the sun, and associated dung beetles with the sun god Ra. Perhaps they even believed that it was a giant dung beetle that pushed the sun across the sky in the same way that small dung beetles pushed huge dung balls around.
They also believed dung beetles were magical.
We know that dung beetles lay their eggs in balls of dung. The Egyptians did not realise this, and thought the beetles had the power to come to life of their own accord - hatching out of the dung itself.
