As one of the planet’s oldest inhabitants, they developed alongside the dinosaurs that roamed 115 million years in the past. Currently, there exist more than 7000 distinct species of dung beetles. These insects are also depicted in ancient Egyptian writings, including Hieroglyphics.

The astonishing truth about these tiny creatures is their incredible ability to lift heavy objects. While the strongest man on Earth can lift 2.3 times his own weight, a dung beetle has the strength to lift 50 times its body weight! And they do this by pushing with their back legs while balancing upside down, similar to a gymnast. In scientific experiments, a male horned dung beetle was found to be able to lift a weight that was 1141 times its own, which is as if a human could pull a load equivalent to six fully loaded double-decker buses with just their hands. Incredible, isn’t it?

Typically, it’s the males who excel at crafting dung balls, although occasionally, you might come across a husband and wife team transporting a dung ball back to their home. A tiny beetle boy has the remarkable ability to transform a pile of elephant dung weighing 250 times his own weight into nothingness within a single night. Thanks to their skill in scavenging, the Australian government has utilized 45 different species of these beetles for the purpose of dung disposal. These committed workers have been silently serving for millions of years.