The Dung Beetle Gets Conned – and Becomes Famous
Mention of the dung beetle might cause some to go ‘Ick’, but the industrious, single-minded gatherers of animal poop have become a favourite of a South African plant species, says a new study from the University of Cape Town that’s getting a lot of international media buzz. According to the paper published on Monday by Jeremy Midgley of the Department […]
Mention of the dung beetle might cause some to go ‘Ick’, but the industrious, single-minded gatherers of animal poop have become a favourite of a South African plant species, says a new study from the University of Cape Town that’s getting a lot of international media buzz.
According to the paper published on Monday by Jeremy Midgley of the Department of Biological Sciences and his colleagues, the plant, Ceratocaryum argenteum, has large, round nuts that are very similar in appearance, smell and chemical composition to antelope droppings (in particular those of the eland and the bontebok), which the dung beetle then takes off and buries, guaranteeing that the seed gets spread.
At first the researchers thought the seeds were being carried around by mice, but after setting up cameras they found out what was really doing the dispersal.
Ceratocaryum argenteum is a rush-like flowering plant native to South Africa.
The nifty story of how a plant has conned the dung beetle – which normally gathers dung into a ball it stores for food or to lay eggs in – has attracted the attention of publications as varied as The Washington Post, the New Scientist and the New Yorker.
Midgley says it is the clearest known example of plants – in this case one that is endemic to the De Hoop Nature Reserve, near Cape Agulhas in the Western Cape – deceiving animals to help them disperse seeds.