Two plugging dung beetles
Two dung beetles making an effort to roll a ball through gravel

Arts and Sciences’ Rachel Stone explains dung beetles’ peculiar attraction to death

New study illuminates dung beetles attraction to death

Entomology Today: Rachel Stone, a PhD biology student at the College of Arts and Sciences, explained how her research while at Wichita State University showed that “dung beetles have a direct attraction to carrion rather than an indirect attraction to the dung of a decomposing animal, but it is important to remember that this work doesn’t provide evidence of actual carrion feeding.”