The dung beetle is one of the most fascinating and hardest working insects in the Kruger National Park and the world. During a safari we discovered a dung beetle hard at work in a large pile of elephant dung. Dung beetles are astute navigators and can detect fresh dung within minutes and have it completely removed within a day. The beetle seen is known as a ball-rolling dung beetle. Bit by bit this beetle breaks off pieces of dung which is then put together into the shape of a ball. It took this beetle three hours to finally have the right size ball. Ball-rolling dung beetles generally roll balls fifty to even eighty times heavier than themselves. This specific ball in progress is called a brood ball. The brood ball is always made by the male beetle and is rolled as a larder for the dung beetle’s larvae. The video shows the male rolling the ball with a female beetle that suddenly appears on the dung ball. While the male works hard rolling the brood ball, the female sits on the ball but she is not just hitching a free ride. During the rolling the female will sit to lay a single egg. This she pats down into the ball with dung. The ball is then buried into the ground. When the larva hatches it will begin to feed on the reserves. Dung beetles can bury more than one metric ton of dung per hectare per year. In this regard they are exceptionally useful and important ecologically being responsible for the removal of wastes to under the ground and simultaneously they return nutrients to the soil.