Page 30 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 4 May 2024

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PLAYING DRESS-UP

WITH DUNG BEETLES

B Y PETER S T OFFBERG
ou’ve probably seen photos of costumed
domestic cats sporting clothing, shoes, hats
Yand slightly murderous facial expressions.
It’s silly and pointless, but can be quite amusing,
especially to cat people. Then there’s the group of
people who dressed-up dung beetles. Go ahead and
reread that if you need to, but you will be pleased to
know that it was anything but pointless.

Sheep and cattle farming is huge in Australia, but
unfortunately, the number of creatures that can deal
with the volume and nature of the dung, is not. As a
result, grazing land has been suffocated under the
covering of unprocessed dung, and flies and intestinal
parasites have thrived, causing disease, suffering and
massive agricultural losses.

Scientists wondered if African dung beetles could solve
the problem, after all, if they clean up after elephants,
cows should be a cinch. This led to various studies
to determine suitable species and the best way to
introduce them. What has come out of this research,
especially the way it was conducted, is just brilliant.
Apparently some beetles can drag a thousand times
their body weight (that’s like a 70kg person pulling six
double-decker buses). We know this because someone
glued threads to the little guys and measured the
weight they could shift.
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The beetles navigate, with extreme accuracy, by the www.familychurch.online
light of the sun and moon, and by the position of DAINFERN COLLEGE AUDITORIUM
the Milky Way. Researchers learned this by sticking
sky-obscuring hats on them and noting their resultant
loss of direction. Tests were conducted in the Jo’burg associates.
planetarium so that different night skies could be
simulated. This and other fantastic research has helped to
implement a very successful dung beetle introduction
It was also discovered why they take regular breaks project down-under, reducing the flies and parasites,
on top of their dung-ball as they roll it across the restoring grazing lands and saving animals, jobs and
burning sand to bury it. The moisture evaporation money.
from the dung cools their feet. Researchers learned
this by fitting little silicon boots to some beetles and God has designed everything and everyone for a
noting how they rest less frequently than their barefoot purpose, from the dung beetle to the people who
dress and study them. “For we are God’s masterpiece.
He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we
can do the good things He planned for us long ago.”
(Ephesians 2:10 NLT).

It may help to remember this when we struggle to
understand people who aren’t like us - and it will
certainly help when we lose our sense of direction in
life (like a dung beetle with a hat on). A relationship
with our Designer, through Jesus Christ, reveals our
purpose and empowers us to realise it. Through Him,
we’re anything but pointless.

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