Standalone Essays · Character and Virtue
Dung Beetle Lifestyles
The dung beetle is an unheralded hero of the natural world. While most people wouldn’t give them a second glance, these busy insects play a vital role in their ecosystems. In 1973, biologist Jo Anderson documented their incredible efficiency: a single one-and-a-half-kilogram pile of elephant dung on the African savannah attracted sixteen thousand dung beetles in just two hours. They consumed or buried the entire pile, leaving no trace behind.
Some larger dung beetles are astonishingly strong, capable of moving dung balls up to fifty times their own weight. These industrious insects are classified into three distinct types, each with its own strategy for survival.
- Dwellers: these beetles are homebodies, living their entire lives within a single dung pile. They lay their eggs directly into the manure, and their larvae thrive by eating their way through it.
- Tunnellers: these beetles are like subterranean architects. They fly to a fresh dung pile, then dig tunnels directly beneath it, pulling large portions of the dung down into their newly created homes.
- Rollers: perhaps the most famous. They create a burrow away from the dung source, then collect and roll small to medium-sized balls of dung back to their homes.
A different kind of value
What can we learn from these creatures? The dung beetle’s single-minded focus is a powerful metaphor for our own lives. We must examine the things we value and ask ourselves if they have any more worth than a simple ball of manure.
It’s easy to think of materialism here. We tirelessly roll our little balls of money and wallow in our piles of possessions. But what about the more subtle forms of dung we collect? What about pride, position, and the small fiefdoms we so valiantly defend, never realizing they are just more dung?
Are you a dweller? Do you refuse to reach for the better things in life, choosing instead to wallow in and consume whatever popular culture offers you?
Are you a tunneller? Do you try to appear separate from the world while all the while living immediately under its influence?
Or are you a roller? Do you acknowledge the need to be separate from the “rat race,” yet still occasionally roll little balls of worldliness into your life and home?
Don’t settle for a dung beetle life. Instead, strive to reach your full potential and focus on what truly matters.