North America has many dung beetle species as well, all in the family Scarabaeidae . The large Hercules beetle that fascinates children is a dung beetle. You probably already have a small population of beetles in your back yard – the problem is in having enough of them to make a difference.
I make no predictions on how well their beetles will work for you. Until more folks with the vision to research and raise dung beetles commercially come along, I fear that a long-handled scooper is your best alternative.
A: Your question might seem humorous at first glance but Sydney, Australia recently received a Keep Australia Beautiful award for releasing 40,000 dung beetles to clean up dog “poo-lution”. Dung beetles are quite valuable to the environment in places where large animals are numerous. Africa and Australia are home to thousands of species, which help decompose the droppings of animals large and small.
I went searching across the Internet to find a source of dung beetles for you. I found fly larvae, wax worms, hissing cockroaches and a “Harry and David” sort of company that will send you fifty crickets per week for seven weeks.
Q: Recently I saw a show on TV that described dung beetles. Since gardeners buy ladybugs to eat aphids, I wondered if it would be possible to buy dung beetles to clean up my dog run.
“Our results suggest that even closely related species of generalist-feeding dung beetles differ in their response to novel dung types,” Whipple said.
Of the dung samples, human and chimpanzee feces (both species are omnivores) attracted the most dung beetles. The dead rat sample came in next, followed by pig droppings, then poop from the carnivorous species, which included lion and tiger dung. The excrement from herbivores, including the “native” bison, came in last.
“This novel research indicates that native dung beetle species will respond to dung from exotic animals,” study researcher Wyatt Hoback, a professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, said in a statement
The different dung beetle species had their individual preferences, with some choosing the omnivore dung, while others favored the carcasses of dead animals. This specificity in dietary preferences isnt related to the quality of the dung, the animals diet, or its origin, said study researcher Sean Whipple, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
After two summers of work in 2010 and 2011, the team had captured more than 9,000 dung beetles of 15 different species.
In fact, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that dog waste spreads harmful organisms that include tapeworms, ringworms, hookworms, even salmonella! Pet waste is also connected to fecal coliform bacteria, which can lead to human conditions of cramps, diarrhea, kidney problems, and intestinal issues. With 23 million fecal coliform bacteria in a gram of pet waste, our chances of contracting such conditions is not too distant.
Now, we might be thinking, “The dog poop eventually decomposes, so any dangers are no longer there, so hah!” Well, we’re right in that the poop eventually decomposes through environmental conditions, but organism eggs can hang around in our yard for years! Think of it this way: When our kids are out playing in the backyard, our wife is doing a little gardening, or we have company over for a weekend barbecue and everyone’s walking around barefoot or coming into contact with the ground in some way, they all risk disease infection from dog poop long gone.
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In addition, and for decades now, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified pet poop as another dangerous pollutant. The EPA classified pet waste in a similar category as toxic chemicals and oils. Perhaps we never thought about it, but un-scooped poop is transmitted to rivers, streams, lakes, oceans, and ground water by on-land water flows.
We may think that picking up after our pets is a personal choice, but guess what? There is actually a law – Section 29-4.4(a)(9) of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu – that basically states we are all required to pick up after our pets. May we all make the right choice and spread Aloha in our yards and communities.
How Dung Beetles Evolved to Eat Poop
Dung beetles prefer the smelliest poop they can find, new research on the insects suggests. Odorous dung from omnivores, which eat a diet of both plants and animals, seems to be the most attractive to the beetles.
“This novel research indicates that native dung beetle species will respond to dung from exotic animals,” study researcher Wyatt Hoback, a professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, said in a statement
Dung beetles are usually pretty specific in their poop tastes, but researchers were wondering how they would react to exotic droppings, like those left by imported mammals on game farms. This was a problem in Australia, when humans imported cows and other large herbivores in 1778. The dung beetles didnt enjoy the bovine droppings, and instead flies and other parasites had a heyday.
The researchers used “pitfall” traps, large buckets buried in the ground, containing feces from one of many different species, or a dead, rotting rat in the bottom. Carrion, or the remains of dead animals, can also serve as a food source for dung beetles, so the researchers wanted to compare this to the dung samples. The walls of the bucket were too high for the dung beetles to crawl back out once they followed the scent. The traps were set out around a large cattle ranch in Nebraska.
They lured the beetles in with different kinds of native and exotic excrement from animals with all kinds of diets — meat eaters, plant eaters and anything-eaters (omnivores) — to capture beetles. “Native” animals in this area include bison and cougar. Some examples of “exotic” droppings they used included waterbuck, lion and chimpanzee dung.
After two summers of work in 2010 and 2011, the team had captured more than 9,000 dung beetles of 15 different species.
Of the dung samples, human and chimpanzee feces (both species are omnivores) attracted the most dung beetles. The dead rat sample came in next, followed by pig droppings, then poop from the carnivorous species, which included lion and tiger dung. The excrement from herbivores, including the “native” bison, came in last.
This difference in preference could largely be attributed to omnivore dung being more odiferous compared with that of herbivore dung, the researchers said.
The different dung beetle species had their individual preferences, with some choosing the omnivore dung, while others favored the carcasses of dead animals. This specificity in dietary preferences isnt related to the quality of the dung, the animals diet, or its origin, said study researcher Sean Whipple, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“Our results suggest that even closely related species of generalist-feeding dung beetles differ in their response to novel dung types,” Whipple said.
You can follow LiveScience staff writer Jennifer Welsh on Twitter, on Google+ or on Facebook. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter and on Facebook.
Jennifer Welsh is a Connecticut-based science writer and editor and a regular contributor to Live Science. She also has several years of bench work in cancer research and anti-viral drug discovery under her belt. She has previously written for Science News, VerywellHealth, The Scientist, Discover Magazine, WIRED Science, and Business Insider.