AnimalsSavanna
Dung beetle Fun facts for kids
Kheper nigroaeneus
The dung beetle lives in grasslands and fields in southern Africa and eats poo from cows and elephants.
- Where it lives
- in grasslands and fields in southern Africa
- What it eats
- poo from cows and elephants
- How big it is
- about as big as a grape
Fun facts about the dung beetle
The ones Sammy likes best. She tells them in the game, too.
It rolls its poo ball backwards, standing on its front legs and pushing with its back legs, like a handstand.
One kind of dung beetle finds its way at night by looking at the stars of the Milky Way.
Dung beetles are the strongest animals for their size, and one can pull over 1,000 times its own weight!
It shapes a piece of poo into a ball and rolls it far away from the pile.
Its baby hatches inside a poo ball and eats its way through it until it grows into a beetle.
The mother stays underground to look after her babies, which is rare for an insect.
By burying poo, dung beetles feed the soil and help keep fields clean.
Long ago, people in Egypt had a god that was pictured as a dung beetle.
Riddle
Can a friend guess it?
Read the clues to someone, one at a time, without saying the animal. How many clues do they need? Fewer is better, just like in the game.
I live in the grasslands of southern Africa, and I'm about as big as a grape.
Under my hard, shiny black shell, I hide wings for flying.
Some of my relatives find their way at night by looking at the stars.
For our size, my family and I are the strongest animals in the world.
I shape poo into a ball and roll it backwards, standing on my front legs.
Sammy might be thinking of a dung beetle.
In Thought Zoo, Sammy picks an animal and you ask her yes-or-no questions to find it. You'll find the dung beetle in the Savanna adventure.
Play the SavannaComing to iPad, iPhone and Android on 12 January 2027
