Fossilized Dung provides evidence of an ancient ecosystem

Researchers from the Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires, Argentina discovered a 30-million year old fossilized dung ball that was food to a number of insects including dung beetles.

Victoria Sanchez, the co-author of the study said that the discovery reveals an ancient ecosystem that was solely based on dung. She added that the dungs those days were produced by giant South American mammals. Thus small insects, not only the dung beetles but as well as other kinds of beetles, flies and earthworms fed on the dungs. Researchers also noted that there were proof that dung beetles started creating huge dung balls the size of tennis balls, some 40 million years ago.