Dung beetles prefer the smelliest poop they can find, new research on the insects suggests. Odorous dung from omnivores, which eat a diet of both plants and animals, seems to be the most attractive to the beetles.
Some of the top choices? Human and chimpanzee dung.
"This novel research indicates that native dung beetle species will respond to dung from exotic animals," study researcher Wyatt Hoback, a professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, said in a statement
Dung beetles are usually pretty specific in their poop tastes, but researchers were wondering how they would react to exotic droppings, like those left by imported mammals on game farms. This was a problem in Australia, when humans imported cows and other large herbivores in 1778. The dung beetles didn't enjoy the bovine droppings, and instead flies and other parasites had a heyday.
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