Snug As A Bug In A...Pile of Dung

It had been a  hot and muggy day and I had just started making dinner when my husband, Larry came in from outside holding an old shipping envelope...obviously with something in it. 

"Wanna see something cool?"

I have learned to respond to that question with great hesitancy in that you never know what Larry is gonna drag into the house.

"Um....sure", I said, peeking into the top of the envelope.  "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!  What is it?"

"It's a husband and wife dung beetle couple with their ball of dung", he said proudly. 

He then went on to tell me al-l-l-l-l-l about dung beetles.  I think I might have been a little more receptive at the time if I hadn't been cooking dinner and if I hadn't been so repulsed by the slimy ball of dung with the two black beetles attached to it.  I was listening when he told me about how this husband and wife team will find a pile of dung and will push and roll the dung to create a small ball and then drop it into a tunnel that hey have dug in the ground. 

They do it for several reasons...but for them...it's all about their one purpose in life...to reproduce themselves.  They come into the world from a ball of dung and immediately start the process all over again.  There are three varieties of dung beetles...but the most well known are the beetles Larry brought in called tumble bugs or tumble rollers.  

Dung beetles are amazing creatures (if you can get past the fact that they spend their lives in a pile of poo).  Their front legs are serrated and are powerful diggers.  The female has shorter, thicker legs (I guess some things never change...eh?) for digging the hole for their dung ball, while the male hauls the dirt away.  So..."Why would they be digging a hole for their dung ball?", you ask.  Well, to bury their brooder ball(s) (which IS the dung ball) that carries the egg that the wife lays in the dung. 

What amazes me is that the dung ball is self sustaining...meaning...once the egg hatches in the ball...the baby beetle feasts on the contents of the ball.  The liquid content of the manure is their little dung slurpee and provides all that the nourishment they need to become a thriving adult beetle (about three weeks later).  Once they are an adult...they will eat their way out of the ball. From the moment they emerge from the brooder ball they will find their mate and, literally, sniff out where the dung is to start their family.  They are even smart enough to hitch a ride on the tail of an animal in anticipation of a "drop" to start the process. 

So...what can we learn from these dung pushers???  Not that we have to learn anything...but you figure if God created a creature that pushes around doo doo all day...there's gotta be a lesson in it.  Here's what I have come up with:

1. Pushing or shoveling poo...although stinky, smelly and disgusting...can produce something good in the end.
2. It takes teamwork to get the job done.
3. How we are made has it's purpose...we just need to find it and use it.
4. You think your job sucks...try being a dung beetle for a day.  Perspective. 
5. Finally...you can find love anywhere...even on the backside of a horse.

 

Claire L. Record

"Your Rural Lifestyle Realtor"

Keller Williams Realty--Boerne Hill Country