Some photo trips end up with a little cherry on top. After some hours of walking around looking for bugs I found this giant right in front of our parked car.
I am not sure if he wanted to be there - asphalt, pavement, buildings... not very beetle friendly. For some reason he was trying to dig a hole in the sand between the pavement tiles.
Copris hispanus
They are commonly known as Dung Beetle and this is because they just love poop! This is the one that is known for rolling a big ball of dung. Often a lot bigger than the beetle itself. Then it will be used as food, or it will be dug up in a soil and used to lay eggs in.
Some beetles go even further though and will simply move into a pile of manure. :)
They can be found on all continents (except Antarctica) in various environments. They just don't like when it is too cold.
Now... being on the countryside I am sure this one here could find a lot of lovely poop to roll in. But I didn't see any ball near him. Was he digging a hole just to hide then?
I didn't wait to see what happens next. I am just guessing that he did manage to dig what he wanted. The sand there looked pretty soft and he was moving quite fast.
Some other time I found a less lucky one:
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.
