When going on safari in Africa, the focus always tends to be on finding and seeing the big animals, especially the scary ones that are part of the big five animals. With these animals high on the list of ‘must-see animals’, it is easy to forget and overlook all the smaller animals that make up a crucial part of the ecosystem in which all the animals live. Insects are one example. Looking closer and understanding more about these creatures can open a whole new world of appreciation and understanding. I had the opportunity to film the fascinating behaviour of a male dung beetle, showing incredible strength and skill, working hard to roll his dung ball up a steep slope. The reason I filmed this behaviour was in appreciation of the strength and power that goes into rolling around a dung ball like that. Ball-rolling dung beetles generally roll dung balls that are a staggering fifty times heavier than themselves. To put that into perspective, it will be the same as a hundred-kilogram human pushing or rolling around a five-ton object. I find this incredible and fascinating, really appreciating the effort put in by this male dung beetle. The close-up footage shows the male beetle taking on a small uphill, which is a steep hill in his world, slowly pushing and rolling the dung ball with his hind legs, doing it all in reverse. Amazing ability and skill indeed. I was eager to see whether this dung beetle was going to manage to get his ball up the slope. At first it looked like smooth sailing for the beetle, but when it reached the very top of the hill, the beetle started running out of steam. It was as if the beetle was losing traction at the same time, but it persisted. Then something happened I have never seen before. With the dung ball right at the top and almost over the hill, it looked like the dung beetle lost all his power and energy, falling from the dung ball, rolling back down from the hill where the ball was left standing. The dung beetle managed to get back onto its feet and to my surprise, the dung beetle decided ‘stuff this’ and left his ball standing on the hill and moved off. I was a little disappointed in the little guy just giving up, but hey, who am I to judge the beetle, as I have never even considered moving something fifty times my own weight. With over seven hundred different species found in Africa, dung beetles are astute navigators, detecting dung within minutes. The dung balls are buried under ground at a selected place, providing food for the beetles and serving as a larder for the dung beetle larvae. Dung beetles can bury more than one metric ton of dung per hectare per year. This makes dung beetles exceptionally important ecologically, being responsible for the removal of wastes to under the ground and returning nutrients back into the soil at the same time. Unexpectedly the male beetle in the video didn’t make it with his first ball but I was sure the little fellow was heading off in search of a new and maybe a smaller ball that is more manageable.