Dung beetle
Scarabaeus
- Size
- 2 to 4cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Grassland and bush across Africa, wherever large animals graze
A stout, black beetle that shapes a ball of dung and rolls it away backwards.
The dung beetle that follows you
This page is the open grassland of East Africa. Move your pointer and your bug will roll, march, hop or flutter after you. Choose a different bug at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
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01 · BallA ball to take away
It carves a ball from fresh dung, far bigger than itself, and rolls it off to bury before a rival can steal it.
02 · BackIt pushes backwards
It stands on its front legs, head down, and pushes the ball with its back legs.
03 · StarsIt steers by the stars
To roll in a straight line at night it uses the glow of the Milky Way. No other animal is known to do this.
04 · StrongStronger than it looks
Some dung beetles can pull more than a thousand times their own weight.
05 · GrubA nursery in a ball
The female lays a single egg inside a buried ball. The grub eats its way out.
06 · SacredSacred in ancient Egypt
The Egyptians saw the beetle rolling its ball as the sun being pushed across the sky, and carved scarabs in stone.
Meet them all
Who's who on the savanna
Desert locust
Schistocerca gregaria
- Size
- 6 to 9cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Dry grassland and semi-desert from West Africa to India
A large, yellow and sandy-brown grasshopper with speckled wings.
Driver ants
Dorylus
- Size
- Workers 0.5 to 1.5cm; queen up to 5cm
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Forest and savanna across central and East Africa
Dark red-brown ants with large heads and curved jaws, marching in a dense column.
Baboon spider
Harpactirinae
- Size
- Leg span up to 15cm
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Burrows in grassland and dry bush, mostly in eastern and southern Africa
A big, hairy, golden-brown tarantula with a starburst pattern on its back.
Emperor scorpion
Pandinus imperator
- Size
- Up to 20cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Forest floor and savanna in West Africa, in burrows and termite mounds
A huge, glossy black scorpion with heavy pincers and a tail curved over its back.
African monarch
Danaus chrysippus
- Size
- Wingspan 7 to 8cm
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Open country, gardens and roadsides all over Africa, and across southern Asia
An orange butterfly with black wing tips crossed by a band of white spots.
Through the year
When to look for them
Near the equator there is no winter, only wet seasons and dry ones. The green months are when each one is easiest to find. The bug following you is shown in red.
Dung beetle
Desert locust
Driver ants
Baboon spider
Emperor scorpion
African monarch
Good to know
Six things about savanna bugs
Two seasons
The year swings between wet and dry. Many insects stay hidden through the dry months and appear with the first rain.
Nothing is wasted
An elephant's dropping can be visited by thousands of dung beetles and be gone within a day.
Castles of clay
Termite mounds are taller than a person and stay cool inside. Dozens of other animals move in.
Busier after dark
The heat of the day drives most small animals underground. Scorpions and spiders hunt at night.
Safety in numbers
Locusts and ants overwhelm their enemies by sheer number.
Bright means bitter
Orange and black, as on the African monarch, is a warning that birds understand.
African bugs: 1 more place
Where next?
Photo gallery
Real photos of the bugs on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
Dung beetle
Desert locust
Driver ants
Baboon spider
Emperor scorpion
African monarch
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
The small things that run the plains
People come to the savanna for lions and elephants. But it is the dung beetles, termites and ants that bury the waste, turn the soil and feed half the birds.
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