Nature's muck spreaders
This week I explore the fascinating world of dung beetles and return to the topic of slugs
Last week, I listened to a fascinating episode of the podcast Accidental Gods in which Faith Tilleray interviewed Claire Whittle aka the Regen Vet. As well as being a vet, Claire is an expert in dung beetles. I have long been intrigued by these insects, so her podcast spurred me on to delve in a bit deeper to these amazing creatures.
I’m sure many of you may have see amazing footage of African dung beetles racing over to a fresh pat of dung and then rolling the valuable material into their tunnels to feed their larvae. I was lucky to have a chance to look for dung beetles in Botswana – the guide was somewhat surprised when I said I wanted to look for elephant dung rather than search for leopards and lions, so I spent a fascinating few hours rooting around dung and I came home with photos of all sorts of fungi living on the dung, which I used in one of my children’s books on recycling.