‘Small but mighty’ creature — the ‘world’s strongest’ — seen in New Mexico park
In the sweltering New Mexico summer heat, a “small but mighty” invertebrate works relentlessly.
In a video shared by Carlsbad Caverns National Park in an Aug. 13 Facebook post, it shows a small, peculiar insect using its hind legs to push a ball backward and its front legs keep balance and push in a parking lot outside the visitor center on July 3.
The seconds-long video captures the “unsung hero of the insect world” — the dung beetle, rangers said.
The bug, “likely of the genus dichotomius,” is considered a “roller, collecting dung and rolling it into balls,” rangers said.
“Considered the world’s strongest animal, some species can roll dung balls over 1000 times their body weight,” according to rangers.
Dung beetles are coprophagous, “meaning they eat the feces of other organisms,” rangers said.
“While this doesn’t sound very appetizing to us, they play the essential role of decomposers in their ecosystems,” rangers said.
In addition to providing sustenance for the insects, rangers said “animal feces also serve as the perfect nest for mothers to lay their eggs, giving their larvae plenty of food for after they hatch.”
Other species of beetles aside from rollers “tunnel below dung piles (tunnellers) or live inside of dung piles (dwellers),” according to rangers.
Though dung beetles are often underappreciated, rangers said they are frequently “a subject of scientific research for their role in parasite control, soil health, and climate.”
“To all those that do the dirty but very necessary work: keep on rollin,’” rangers said.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is in southern New Mexico just above the Mexico border.
