Millions of tons of excrement are excreted every day by livestock on pastures around the world, by all wild higher animals and by certain people who are accustomed to defecation. If the fermentation of saprophytic bacteria is broken down at the usual rate, the pasture will soon be covered with excrement, the scenery of the fields will be greatly improved, and the smell of the wild may not be pleasant. Fortunately, nature has made clever arrangements for us, and a large number of scavengers who specialize in cleaning up excrement have come into being. They are a large group of beetles of the insect class and coleoptera, including dung golden turtles, fecal shell langs, etc., of which the earliest and most studied scarabs are familiar to people.
<h1>Stories on the main road</h1>
On a beautiful summer evening, a few walkers marched on the country roads on the coast of the South China Sea and the Leizhou Peninsula. In this quiet and laid-back atmosphere, one noticed several small beetles moving strangely on the pavement. Strange to say that they are these black beetles do not crawl empty as usual, but each rolls a rough ball larger than itself. They lay head down and tail up on the dung ball, rolling backwards. The farmers on the side of the road told them that this was what the rest said: Shit Shell Lang moved - get out.
Scarabs have an ancient and glorious history and an important place in the great history of natural development. The ancient Egyptians already worshiped this beetle and gave them a great and even sacred status, and the word "holy" in the title was derived from this. The ancestors have recognized that these heroes, known as scarabs, were born to clean up the fecal pollution on the planet and thus contribute to the ecological balance of the earth. It was found that the scarab itself was also competently equipped with a sacred logo
。 Their heads are crowns with horns and spines, and their bodies are covered with a noble and magnificent armor that shimmers with bronze, emerald green, or deep blue light. The ancient Egyptians used the scarab as a symbol of regeneration, good luck and the triumph of the sun over darkness. When pharaohs were mummified after death, their hearts were cut out and replaced with a stone studded with scarabs. It seems to be as a compensation for the dirty work. The dung turtles that grow in the tropics are richly dressed like bright jewelry. For example, scarabs under Egyptian camel dung are comparable in green to emeralds, while dung beetles in Guyana, Brazil, and Senegal are metallic red, as rich as brass and as radiant as rubies. The behaviour and habits of our country's fecal eaters are equally remarkable.
Dung turtles are always adventurous where other animals hide far away. They quickly bury the excrement left behind by their superiors into the ground, making it a rich delicacy that they or their descendants can enjoy slowly and comfortably. They enthusiastically eliminate millions of tons of excrement every day, mostly by dirty mammals such as cows, sheep, horses, elephants, monkeys and humans.
Take a look at their daily activities! Just by the shallow river, as the cheerful sheep hissed and walked by, they left piles of steaming feces on the gnawed grass. And voila! Before long, dung-eating insects were gathered around the dung heap, which were even more lively than the sheep. The busy scene is like a reenactment of the ancient scene of the swarming adventurers scrambling to exploit the Califonia gold mines. As hundreds of different forms of dung-eating insects scramble for their share of each shared pastry, scarabs, the protagonists we focus on, finally appear. A scarab that landed nearby, its tentacles stretching forward like two reddish-brown lupines, hurriedly and hurriedly toward the dung heap. Once it reached the crowded pastry, it unceremoniously pulled and squeezed down some of the quick-runners, leaned over the large table, and feasted with its kind.
The scarab's head was broad and flattened, like a hard hood, and the semicircular leading edge was lined with six serrated teeth, which were the tools it used to excavate. It also has strong front legs to work together. When making a dung ball, it wields a jagged hood to split the dung ball, while extending its front legs and opening the bow left and right, opening the scene. After the site was cleared, the front legs gathered the raked feces between the four hind legs under the abdomen.
At this point, the latter is somewhat like a spherical compass, suitable for keeping a spherical body in the middle of the bent leg in order to check and trim the shape of the sphere. The feces gathered between the spherical compasses are jolted, shaken, rotated, and gently tapped by the giant palms, and a rough dung ball begins to take shape. The scarab struggles like crazy in the hot sun, and the progress of the project to make the dung ball often amazes the observer. It looked like it was still a small dung pill, a small cherry, now it had become as big as a walnut, and in the blink of an eye, it had become a dung ball the size of an apple. Such pastries are enough for a feast of dozens of hours for gluttons.
After making enough food, the Scarab's task was to transport the spoils out of the battlefield as soon as possible to the safety of the ballroom. So the warrior and the pastry chef held their two hind legs on either side of the dung ball, and the tip of the claw pierced into the poles of the sphere to form the axis of rotation of the dung ball. The power of this rolling machine comes from the strong forelimbs of fecal eaters. Its body is lying on the dung ball, its head is facing down, and its hind legs are holding the ball. The two curved machetes with serrations on the front legs alternately pedaled the ground vigorously. Then the heavy ball of dung trembled, fast and slow, and rolled backwards.
<h1>The long journey the situation changes rapidly</h1>
Leaving the scene, the scarab intently pushed the fruit of its victory, and shinma instinctively went to the first camp. Along the way, as the front paws alternately change the direction of thrust, the movement of the rear paws also changes the axis of rotation accordingly, which makes the points on the surface of the dung ball take turns to touch the ground. These evenly distributed pressures gradually perfect the shape of the sphere and make the various parts equally solid. Such balls are both good for moving and are believed to taste better.
The long-distance transport of scarabs often encounters difficulties and obstacles. For example, when they come to a steep slope, the dung ball will roll down the slope, the insect will immediately be dragged down by the heavy object, and the six legs will kick and kick randomly in the air. After turning over, it did not admit to planting, and still had to push the dung ball to re-climb the steep slope, the result of course wasting more time. The researchers also observed that when a scarab rolled a dung ball on the road, sometimes an uninvited fellow of the same kind happily took a hand to help the lucky owner of the property. How do people understand this? Could it be that there is a kind of ill-intentioned agreement between the scarabs that they can meet and share a share, and tacitly divide a pastry? But the results of the study show that each scarab is always busy with its own business when collecting dung, and never cares about others, so they have no right to share in the fruits of other people's labor. Scientists have also denied that this is a warm, family pastoral intimate collaboration between a male and female beetle in order to start a family. Because when anatomical examination of this pair of beetles whose appearance is difficult to distinguish between male and female, the most common result is that they are of the same sex. The two scarabs are neither a family nor a labor partner or an employment relationship. Obviously, they are not unselfish, self-serving guys. So, the conclusion turned out to be: this is a guy with bad intentions, purely an attempt to rob.
Someone saw with his own eyes that when a scarab was rolling a dung ball alone on the road, another scarab suddenly flew in, folded its dark wings and hid under the elytra, and immediately went forward to attack. When the owner of the property bowed his head and pushed the cart unprepared, he picked up the forearm with serrated teeth and hit the owner on his back. When the latter kicked and kicked and flipped over, the robber beetle was already at the top of the dung ball, in a favorable position. The dispossessed owner walked around the dung ball, looking for an opportunity to attack, while the green forest man turned his body from time to time on the top of the fortress to confront the attacker. When the beetle below stands up and tries to force the climb, the beetle above will swing its arms at the opponent's head and back, knocking it back. If the attacker does not change tactics, the defender can stand still on the top of the fortress and constantly thwart the opponent.
Offensive and defensive warfare is evolving. Later, the beetles below began to dig tunnels, and the lower part of the dung ball was destroyed and became shaky, and the garrison on the top rolled with it. The robber tried not to let himself fall off the fortress, and he hastily made all kinds of balanced gymnastics moves, and on several occasions it did. But it could not withstand the opponent's repeated attacks, and finally a movement mistake caused it to fall. At this moment, the two sides were on an equal footing, and the offensive and defensive battles were immediately transformed into a boxing-style gladiatorial fight, until the powerful beetle finally knocked the opponent to the ground and occupied the position at the top of the dung ball. But the offensive and defensive battle for the dung ball is still not over, and will continue to persist until one side escapes or voluntarily concedes defeat.
<h1>Enjoy the delicious food of labor</h1>
If a beetle wins, or if nothing unexpected happens at all, then when the winner or owner beetle has dribbled the dung ball to the spot it deemed appropriate, it will drop off its belongings and start a new round of work. It forcefully cut sand with a hood and serrated front legs to create a sloping tunnel leading to the wide dining room. The underground restaurant is about the size of a fist, and the diagonal short path to the ground is enough for the dung ball to roll in. When the food was finished, the host and the guests (if any) locked themselves in the black rumbling hole, and turned around and sealed the hole with the sand left in the corner when they dug the dining room. Everything was the best: there was plenty of food at the table, the roof shielded from the hot, dry sun, the air was warm and humid, and the hustle and bustle and annoyance were far away.
With its back against the earthen wall, the scarab facing the table and immediately began its feast without distraction. Scientists have found that they never delay, do not slacken off, and swallow, digest, and excrete day and night until the fecal mass is finally eaten clean, without any fuss and waste of food. It would also be interesting to have the opportunity to observe the scarab eating scene. The researchers opened their tiny basements and often saw the scarab sitting at the dining table, its mouthpiece carefully chewing food, and a strap trailing behind its motionless body, like a long cable coiled casually. It's not hard to guess what this strap is.
The beetle's anus is now like a veritable wire sprayer, and this cable hangs on the mouth of the wire sprayer and continues to extend, indicating that the activities of eating, digestion, absorption, and excretion are continuing. When the food was about to be eaten, the cable reached an astonishing length. What an astonishing digestive power! It eats and exits continuously for more than a week, or even two weeks. At the same time, it is also known that they are also very knowledgeable in carrying out a wonderful chemical project: transforming the manure into pleasing flowers and the beautiful elytra and solid body of the beetles themselves, truly turning decay into magic and decorating the spring lawn.