Weird News: Scientists Have Fun With Dancing Dung Beetles
What a National Geographic news flash about scientists studying dancing dung beetles has to do with fashion may require some explanation. Bear with me. We're going to take a little trip into the background of the scarab. And yes, you guessed it, the scarab beetle is a representation of the dung beetle.
The dung beetle gets its name from its activity of rolling dung into a ball. It lays eggs in the dung ball, and the new dung beetles emerge out of the dung ball. The appearance of new life out of waste symbolized regeneration to ancient Egyptians. Think about it, this is a potent symbol for everlasting life, and it's common sense. We still use manure -- animal feces -- for fertilizer. Plants die and new plants emerge through the manure. Baby beetles climb out of balls of feces... resurrection.
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| Dung beetles rolling off to a romantic spot... via Flickr, CC, by Heath.Windcliff |