'Unveiled' beetle's secret

Wherever there is manure all over the world - except Antarctica, there are certainly beetles there. Have you ever wondered why?

The beetle is one of the Scarabaeoidea family of beetles . Their bodies are special: hard wings look like a sturdy armor that covers the body, the head is like a shell, the front legs look like pairs of sharp and slightly curved shears at the head.

They all look like a fully armed person to take on dangerous jobs.

In fact, in the feces, people often see pairs of beetles pushing the stool away somewhere, but it is not a food of adults.

A pair of beetles are rolling their bowels in unison - (Photo: Nick Upton).

When a pile of fresh manure is detected, they use wet heads and feet to shovel wet, mix with soil and then cast members, then push to find suitable places for the female . to lay eggs.

When you find a 'geographic area' , the beetle digs a hole in the stool, laying eggs in it and filling it up immediately. Next, the beetle dug holes in the ground and allowed the pellets to fill in, filling the soil so that it was equal to the ground to disguise.

These feces are nutritional sources for young offspring. Then the parents continued their journey to make feces in other places to lay eggs.

Most beetles prefer the faeces of the herbivorous species, but there are also those that prefer faeces of omnivores. When animals, such as elephants, eat and drink, there are still certain parts of food that are released without digestion. And this is the source of nutrition for the beetle.

Not only that, adult beetles also use feces as a water supply because there is a small amount of nutrient content in feces.

Ancient Egypt attaches great importance to beetles, as evidenced by their widespread popularity in temples, jewelry as well as letters.

From a religious point of view, the Egyptians believed that beetles were the image of a god that raised the sun every day, almost like diligence to push the beetle's special 'marble' .

From the perspective of modern science, although not carrying the sun, beetles still play an important role in our ecosystem.

Scarab larvae are located in the stool - (Nature Production).

In the UK, home to nearly 60 beetles, the ecological benefits they bring have helped the government save £ 367 million per year in the livestock industry. Significant savings are also reported in the United States.

The beetles not only contribute to increasing soil fertility , they also contribute to seed dispersal, improve soil structure , reduce insect germs as well as parasites that harm humans and pets.

In particular, in 2011, New Zealand imported 11 species of beetles from Australia, with the aim of improving the 'health' of the soil and helping the pasture to have a chance of redevelopment. The number of beetles is included in grasslands and farms around Auckland city area and the southernmost part of Southland to clean cattle manure.

In New Zealand, cow dung alone accounted for 14% of nitrogen dioxide - one of the causes of the greenhouse effect.