Addo Elephant National Park is home to the Flightless Dung Beetle. This specific species are a protected species and are only found in Addo and surrounding game reserves. The make use of elephant dung to make their dung balls in which they lay their eggs. Due to the elephants being shot out in the early part of the 1900's, the number of dung beetles also took a drastic dip. Today the numbers are slowly increasing and there is even a guest lodge close to the part that has a breeding project for the flightless dung beetle. Visitors to the park are asked not to drive over the elephant dung as there my be dung beetles "working" in it.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Beware of Dung beetles
Addo Elephant National Park is home to the Flightless Dung Beetle. This specific species are a protected species and are only found in Addo and surrounding game reserves. The make use of elephant dung to make their dung balls in which they lay their eggs. Due to the elephants being shot out in the early part of the 1900's, the number of dung beetles also took a drastic dip. Today the numbers are slowly increasing and there is even a guest lodge close to the part that has a breeding project for the flightless dung beetle. Visitors to the park are asked not to drive over the elephant dung as there my be dung beetles "working" in it.
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What an interesting concept. I guess you really need good eyes to see these things before you drive over them.
ReplyDeleteCan you actually see the dung beetles while driving? It's nice that they try to protect them though :)
ReplyDelete@ the previous commenters - they are actually surprisingly large, and usually rolling a big ball of dung so yes, you can see them from the car if you are alert :)
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