Dung beetles use their dung ball as a mobile thermal refuge
At midday, surface temperatures in the desert often exceed 60°C. To be active at this time, animals need extraordinary behavioural or physiological adaptations. Desert ants, for instance, spend up to 75% of their foraging time cooling down on elevated thermal refuges such as grass stalks [1]. Ball-rolling dung beetles work under similar thermal conditions in South African savannahs. After landing
