It took me many hours of thinking back to my past to figure out who or what I was going tomake a tribute speech over. Then I thought back to my childhood to what I enjoyed doing themost. I remember the great times I had with my mother, and how she would always get me thepackage of candy I would ask for when we went shopping. My mother would make a good tributespeech I thought to myself, but then I thought of the few times I was out in my grandfatherspasture, and how I would see a little bug rolling dung.
The Dung beetle, what a marvelous creature. Now, you may be wondering why I have chosen this topic for a tribute speech, or maybe why Iwould even consider talking about it at all, but do you realize what an important role these beetlesplay all around the world. I remember several days when I was young that I would just go for a walk in mygrandfathers pasture. I would enjoy the quiet walks, and sometimes try to scare the cows, butmore often than not, I would end up stopping to watch dung beetles frantically work on a big cowpat. I remember how disgusting it appeared, but I was just fascinated at the concept of cow poopbeing rolled into balls and taken away by bugs. To realize why dung beetles are so important, youmust first know a few facts about them.
Dung beetles are named after their delight in rolling updung. Dung beetles utilize the dung of cows, horses, rabbits, deer, sheep, and many otheranimals. How many of you think dung beetles actually eat manure? The answer is yes. Dungbeetles just love fresh dung. They shove the dung into their mouths, squeeze it, and drink thejuices that come streaming out! The solid parts of the dung are squeezed for a second time in theirjaws, and then swallowed. If there are any eggs that flies might have laid inside the dung, thissqueezing action kills them.
Now, before you say “Gross!” think about this: There are millions ofanimals on this planet, and they all produce waste. People take care of the problem throughcomplicated sanitation systems. But in nature, the waste from all the animals has to decompose. Dung beetles help speed up the process.
There are more than 20,000 different kinds of dungbeetles. They may feed on plants, dead animals and manure. Dung, along with everything else thatlives in it, is the major food of the dung beetle. In fact African dung beetles head for hot steamingcow pats even before they hit the ground. They are attracted by the gas coming out of the back endof the cow.
Within minutes or even seconds, the beetles are already burrowing into the warm dung. Within hours, or at the very most, a few days, the cow pat has vanished. All that is left is freshlyturned-over soil. Scientists have counted more than 7,000 dung beetles in a single mass of freshelephant dung. The importance of dung beetles cannot be overestimated.
Every cow produces 7tons of dung a year (imagine the amount of space this would take up if it was left to build up andfester!) and yet this dung is rapidly removed by dung beetles and the grassy fields are soon left freeof dung. I hope that you have leaned why the dung beetle should be respected, and given tributemore often. Not only do dung beetles play a vital role in breaking down dung and incorporating itinto the soil, but they also provide a great form of childhood entertainment. (To add to the effect, pass out some Buterfinger BB’s or some malt balls before you gie the speech.)
