African Dung Beetles to the Rescue!

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

TWO centuries ago, when cattle were first introduced into Australia, who could foresee the serious problems that would result to the country?

As time went by, pastures became studded with cow dung, preventing the growth of grass in places or making the grass inedible for cattle. The heaps of dung eventually became vast breeding sites for pesky flies. In fact, according to a report in the journal Africa—Environment & Wildlife, by the 1970’s the problem had reached “an economic and ecological crisis of monster proportions.” It was calculated that “more than two million hectares [five million acres] of pasture lands were being lost to production each year . . . , large quantities of nitrogen were not being returned to the soil because of unburied dung, and fly populations were reaching epidemic proportions.”

What had gone wrong? In Africa the dung beetles would normally clear the fields quickly and efficiently. The buried dung would fertilize the soil and make it more porous, thus improving plant growth. In this way, harmful fly species would be kept under control and parasite eggs would be destroyed, preventing the spread of bacterial disease.

However, what the early settlers of Australia did not realize was that the Australian dung beetles work only on small, hard, pelletlike droppings of the indigenous animals and cannot cope with the large, soft droppings of cattle.

What was to be done? Import dung beetles from other countries! The African variety, for example (of which there are about 2,000 species), copes with enormous quantities of soft dung, such as that dropped by elephants. For these beetles, disposal of cowpats presents no problem at all. But what a great number of beetles are required to perform the task! Africa—Environment & Wildlife reports that at one national park, “7 000 beetles have been recorded at a single pile of elephant dung,” and at another park, “22 746 . . . were collected from a 7 kg [15 lb] pile of elephant dung in 12 hours.” Just imagine the vast quantities of beetles required to tackle Australia’s catastrophic problem!

Happily, the situation is improving significantly at present—thanks to the African dung beetles.