Poop, Lies, and Love: A Dating Game

Dung beetle

Love is in the air… and so is the smell of poop!

If you think romance is complicated, imagine if your dating success depended on how well you could roll a ball of dung.

Dung beetles take “winning over a mate” to the next level. Some males dedicate hours crafting the perfect poop gift to impress a female. But not all dung beetles are hardworking romantics. Some are straight-up liars, tricking females into mating with them without offering a single speck of dung!

Some Dung Beetles Roll Poop for Love — Others Just Lie About It.

Forget roses and chocolates if you’re a dung beetle because the way to a lady’s heart is through a perfectly crafted ball of poop. But while some dung beetles are hard working romantics, others are deceitful little tricksters who will do anything to win a mate, including outright lying about their dung based wealth.

Dung beetles aren’t just casual collectors of poop. They are obsessed with it. Their entire social, reproductive, and survival strategies revolve around finding, rolling and storing dung. But for some species, poop is more than just food as it’s the ultimate love offering.

  • Step 1: The Search:
    Male dung beetles use their super-sensitive antennae to detect fresh dung from up to a kilometre away. Not all poop is equal, though. Some species prefer herbivore dung, while others go for carnivore droppings, so it’s like choosing the right flowers for your lady — get it wrong, and you lose!
  • Step 2: The Sculpting
    Once the beetle finds a prime pile, he doesn’t just grab and go. He meticulously shapes a perfect ball, ensuring it’s firm and moist, the right size for rolling, and free from unappetising debris.
  • Step 3: The Proposal
    With the dung ball prepared, the male stands at the entrance of his tunnel, sticks his rear in the air, and releases pheromones that float through the air like a love potion that is irresistible to female beetles. If a nearby female catches the scent, she’ll come over to inspect the goods — but not just him. She gives the dung ball a thorough once over, and if it meets her high standards, she’ll follow him into his underground burrow for a romantic meal and some egg-laying.
  • Step 4: Taking it Further
    Some male dung beetles take their alluring to the next level, engaging in elaborate “dung ball parades,” proudly rolling their prize around to attract attention! Unlike a human male strutting his dung balls around in the gym or revving his Ferrari at the traffic lights, the dung beetle actually has a strategy!

In the world of dung beetle dating, not everyone plays fair.
Some males are sneaky liars and have figured out a loophole in the system.

The Fake Poop Scammers

While honest males work hard to gather and roll the perfect dung ball, some lazy cheaters skip the work entirely.
These deceivers will:

  • Lure females in with fake promises by releasing pheromones just like the hard working beetles do, but there is no dung ball for her! It’s just the smell. Such deception!
  • Some males attack hardworking dung beetles, and roll their balls away while the honest, hardworking dung beetle builder is distracted. That’s grand larceny!
  • Some make worthless counterfeit “decoy” balls. They pack dirt, mud, or old dried dung into a ball and pretend it is fresh poop. The female only realises she’s been duped after mating!
  • It gets worse! Some sneaky males don’t even bother with dung at all. Instead, they dig secret tunnels under another male’s burrow and intercept the female as she enters!

The Battle of the Balls - Dung Beetle Fights

If you think human dating is competitive, imagine fighting for your love life while rolling a ball of poop twice your size. 

  • They fight to steal dung from others: A male who’s too slow at gathering poop might find another beetle’s hard-earned ball and try to take it by force.
  • They fight to protect a mate: A male who has successfully courted a female may have to fight off rival suitors trying to steal her away.
  • And they fight to secure the best breeding ground: Some beetles engage in intense burrow battles, locking horns and flipping each other over in a fight for the best tunnel.

Some male dung beetles even stay inside the burrow after mating to guard the female and prevent sneaky suitors from entering.

In some species, the males never leave their dung ball, spending their entire lives protecting and rolling it in the hope of finding a mate.  Now that’s commitment!

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