* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Sunday, October 19, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    CT Culture Corner: Robert Redford films to watch – CT Insider

    CT Culture Corner: Robert Redford films to watch – CT Insider

    Elmira’s New Entertainment Venue ‘Centertown Social’ Adding its Final Touches – WENY News

    Elmira’s New Entertainment Venue ‘Centertown Social’ Adding its Final Touches – WENY News

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in Crop Top – Yahoo

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in a Chic Crop Top

    Bricktown continues to thrive as OKC’s entertainment district – OKC VeloCity

    Bricktown Shines as Oklahoma City’s Premier Entertainment Hotspot

    This Haunting ‘60s Country Song Is Even More Tragic Than You Remember – Yahoo

    This Haunting ’60s Country Song Will Break Your Heart All Over Again

    Arts/Entertainment: ‘Wait Until Dark’ brings spooky season center stage – Times Herald Online

    Wait Until Dark’ Delivers Chilling Thrills Perfect for the Spooky Season

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    How a Gemma model helped discover a new potential cancer therapy pathway – blog.google

    How a Gemma Model Revealed a Breakthrough Pathway for Cancer Treatment

    Italian Technology in Manufacturing: Supporting North American Industries and Keeping Production Local – Thomasnet

    How Italian Technology is Revolutionizing North American Manufacturing and Boosting Local Production

    Guide to Proteomics Project Planning: Sample Preparation Strategies – Technology Networks

    Guide to Proteomics Project Planning: Sample Preparation Strategies – Technology Networks

    DLG−Agrifuture Concept Winners 2025 announced – Visionary Ideas in agricultural technology recognized – TheNewsMarket

    Meet the Visionary Innovators Revolutionizing Agricultural Technology in 2025

    Spanning the Gulf: Global Defence Technology 155 – Army Technology

    Spanning the Gulf: Exploring Cutting-Edge Global Defence Technology

    A Nobel Prize for explaining when technology leads to growth – NPR

    Nobel Prize Awarded for Unraveling How Technology Drives Economic Growth

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    CT Culture Corner: Robert Redford films to watch – CT Insider

    CT Culture Corner: Robert Redford films to watch – CT Insider

    Elmira’s New Entertainment Venue ‘Centertown Social’ Adding its Final Touches – WENY News

    Elmira’s New Entertainment Venue ‘Centertown Social’ Adding its Final Touches – WENY News

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in Crop Top – Yahoo

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in a Chic Crop Top

    Bricktown continues to thrive as OKC’s entertainment district – OKC VeloCity

    Bricktown Shines as Oklahoma City’s Premier Entertainment Hotspot

    This Haunting ‘60s Country Song Is Even More Tragic Than You Remember – Yahoo

    This Haunting ’60s Country Song Will Break Your Heart All Over Again

    Arts/Entertainment: ‘Wait Until Dark’ brings spooky season center stage – Times Herald Online

    Wait Until Dark’ Delivers Chilling Thrills Perfect for the Spooky Season

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    How a Gemma model helped discover a new potential cancer therapy pathway – blog.google

    How a Gemma Model Revealed a Breakthrough Pathway for Cancer Treatment

    Italian Technology in Manufacturing: Supporting North American Industries and Keeping Production Local – Thomasnet

    How Italian Technology is Revolutionizing North American Manufacturing and Boosting Local Production

    Guide to Proteomics Project Planning: Sample Preparation Strategies – Technology Networks

    Guide to Proteomics Project Planning: Sample Preparation Strategies – Technology Networks

    DLG−Agrifuture Concept Winners 2025 announced – Visionary Ideas in agricultural technology recognized – TheNewsMarket

    Meet the Visionary Innovators Revolutionizing Agricultural Technology in 2025

    Spanning the Gulf: Global Defence Technology 155 – Army Technology

    Spanning the Gulf: Exploring Cutting-Edge Global Defence Technology

    A Nobel Prize for explaining when technology leads to growth – NPR

    Nobel Prize Awarded for Unraveling How Technology Drives Economic Growth

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

One elephant can sustain more than 2 million dung beetles in east African savannas, study finds

July 23, 2024
in Science
One elephant can sustain more than 2 million dung beetles in east African savannas, study finds
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Denver Museum of Nature & Science scientist unveils study: One elephant supports 2 million dung beetles in east African savannas

An adult and a young savanna elephant near the Mpala Research Centre in central Kenya. Credit: Frank Krell

How many dung beetles are there in East Africa? That question inspired a research project more than 20 years ago when Frank Krell was a research entomologist with the Natural History Museum London. Throughout a three-year-long project along with his wife, ecologist Sylvia Krell-Westerwalbesloh, they looked deep into the ecology of dung beetles in West and East African savannas.

Their latest research is now published in The Science of Nature.

African grasslands are dung beetle heaven. If one, lacking a restroom nearby, opts to relieve oneself behind the bushes, their waste can disappear within a half hour because of the abundance of dung beetles. But for elephants, it will take a bit longer. This led them to an interesting question: how many beetles does elephant dung attract?

When they visited the Laikipia region in central Kenya, they went to work to find out. Elephant dung is easy to find as it occurs in large heaps and often on the road. Upon locating the elephant waste, they collected two balls—also known as “boli”—and exposed one of them during the night and one during the daytime on the bare soil to see what would happen.

After half a day each, they collected the remainder of the dung and soil beneath and extracted all the dung beetles using the floating method, which is basically throwing the dung into a bucket of water: dung sinks, beetles float.

While the “day bolus” contained just over 3,300 beetles, the one exposed overnight, no longer recognizable as a bolus, harbored 13,399 dung-loving beetles. Sylvia counted them all—ecologists need stamina. All that was left of the bolus was a thin mat of dung residue.

It is known that two pounds of elephant dung serve about 13,400 beetles with food and shelter. Elephants produce on average 320 pounds of dung per day. That means that one elephant can sustain more than 2 million dung beetles on any given day.

The Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem, which hosts approximately 5,000 to 7,500 elephants, would then provide for 14 billion dung beetles in an area of over 21,000 square miles—which is about the size of Maryland and New Jersey combined.

While the African savanna elephant is not currently close to extinction in East Africa, the species is classified as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and did vanish from other parts of continent.

So, what would happen if the elephants disappeared? Some of the beetles would find other food, but the dung to support 14 billion dung beetles would cease to exist. The extinction of the majestic largest land mammal on the planet would undoubtedly have devastating effects on the billions and billions of smaller animals depending on them.

More information:
Frank-Thorsten Krell et al, One elephant may sustain 2 million dung beetles in East African savannas on any given day, The Science of Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s00114-024-01894-9

Provided by
Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Citation:
One elephant can sustain more than 2 million dung beetles in east African savannas, study finds (2024, July 23)
retrieved 23 July 2024
from https://phys.org/news/2024-07-elephant-sustain-million-dung-beetles.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Phys.org – https://phys.org/news/2024-07-elephant-sustain-million-dung-beetles.html

Tags: Elephantsciencesustain
Previous Post

Study identifies best bioenergy crops for sustainable aviation fuels by US region, policy goals

Next Post

380-million-year-old rocks provide insights into past climate and geothermal energy

Advancing causal inference in ecology: Pathways for biodiversity change detection and attribution – besjournals

Unlocking Nature’s Secrets: New Approaches to Detecting and Attributing Biodiversity Change

October 19, 2025
Scientists discover concerning phenomenon that could lead to disastrous storms: ‘Exposed to threats’ – Yahoo

Scientists Reveal Shocking Discovery That Could Spark Devastating Storms

October 19, 2025

Oliver Bogler: Tired of Brilliant Science Getting Lost in Confusing Presentations?

October 19, 2025
The Deceptively Simple Soup Gordon Ramsay Once Cooked For Anthony Bourdain – Yahoo

The Surprisingly Simple Soup Gordon Ramsay Created for Anthony Bourdain

October 19, 2025
How a Gemma model helped discover a new potential cancer therapy pathway – blog.google

How a Gemma Model Revealed a Breakthrough Pathway for Cancer Treatment

October 19, 2025
CAA Football Recap – Oct. 18 – Coastal Athletic Association (CAA

Exciting CAA Football Highlights You Can’t Miss – October 18 Recap

October 19, 2025
Previewing a Dodgers World Series with the Mariners or Blue Jays – MLB.com

Previewing a Dodgers World Series with the Mariners or Blue Jays – MLB.com

October 19, 2025
We look forward to expanding US investments in Egyptian economy: Kouchouk – Dailynewsegypt

Thrilling Prospects: US Boosts Investments to Energize Egypt’s Economy

October 19, 2025
Sabrina Carpenter Teases Tonight’s ‘SNL’ in Behind-the-Scenes Photos – Yahoo

Sabrina Carpenter Shares Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Photos Ahead of Tonight’s ‘SNL’ Appearance

October 19, 2025
SGMC Health Foundation Receives $31K Georgia HEART Contribution from Lakeland Family Dentistry – SGMC Health

Lakeland Family Dentistry Champions Heart Health with $31K Donation to Georgia HEART Program

October 19, 2025

Categories

Archives

October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (875)
  • Economy (896)
  • Entertainment (21,767)
  • General (17,680)
  • Health (9,937)
  • Lifestyle (909)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (897)
  • Politics (906)
  • Science (16,107)
  • Sports (21,396)
  • Technology (15,876)
  • World (879)

Recent News

Advancing causal inference in ecology: Pathways for biodiversity change detection and attribution – besjournals

Unlocking Nature’s Secrets: New Approaches to Detecting and Attributing Biodiversity Change

October 19, 2025
Scientists discover concerning phenomenon that could lead to disastrous storms: ‘Exposed to threats’ – Yahoo

Scientists Reveal Shocking Discovery That Could Spark Devastating Storms

October 19, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version