According to entomologist Yves Cambefort in his essay “Beetles as Religious Symbols,” the scarab, so reasoned the Egyptians, rolls the turd along and disappears it, just as the sun emerges and vanishes every day. Thus does their solar god Khepri, a humanoid figure with the face of a dung beetle, roll the star across the sky, bury it at sunset, and dig it back up at the eastern horizon at dawn—all while wearing some pretty expensive sunscreen, we’re to assume. Oddly enough, these critters do indeed have impressive celestial powers. Dung beetles like the scarab are incredible navigators that actually use the sun as guidance when moving their quarries. Rolling the dung ball along, the beetle will periodically stop, climb atop its prize, look around to orient itself, and climb back down and start pushing the ball once more.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 13:08:55 +0000
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