Horned Dung Beetle

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Horned Dung Beetle 4.jpg

Some photo trips end up with a little cherry on top. After some hours of walking around looking for bugs I found this giant right in front of our parked car.
I am not sure if he wanted to be there - asphalt, pavement, buildings... not very beetle friendly. For some reason he was trying to dig a hole in the sand between the pavement tiles.

Copris hispanus


Horned Dung Beetle 3.jpg

They are commonly known as Dung Beetle and this is because they just love poop! This is the one that is known for rolling a big ball of dung. Often a lot bigger than the beetle itself. Then it will be used as food, or it will be dug up in a soil and used to lay eggs in.
Some beetles go even further though and will simply move into a pile of manure. :)

They can be found on all continents (except Antarctica) in various environments. They just don't like when it is too cold.

Now... being on the countryside I am sure this one here could find a lot of lovely poop to roll in. But I didn't see any ball near him. Was he digging a hole just to hide then?

I didn't wait to see what happens next. I am just guessing that he did manage to dig what he wanted. The sand there looked pretty soft and he was moving quite fast.

Horned Dung Beetle 1.jpg

Horned Dung Beetle 2.jpg

Some other time I found a less lucky one:

Horned Dung Beetle 5.jpg

Horned Dung Beetle 6.jpg

Horned Dung Beetle 7.jpg

»«
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.



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10 comments
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pixresteemer_incognito_angel_mini.png
Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
Week 39 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
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amazing stuff!!!! i'd be more then happy to meet one, even once in a lifetime, but... we dont have them here, very sadly.
cool macros, and I like the last (unlucky dead edition eaten my critters) one.

cheers!

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I think they can be also found in Poland. But they are not very common. Maybe you do have them..

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удивлена... в моем городе они не редкость. В детстве мы этого жука называли "носорог" :-)

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Hi ewkaw,

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This horn beetle is a little different from the horn beetles in our area ,,

Good guess .

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There is a lot of different types. Some have really big, impressive horns.
Cool creatures.

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In my homeland, as a child, we called this beetle "rhino" :-)
Photos are super!

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