Ideas worth spreading

1,151,487 views | Marcus Byrne • TEDxWitsUniversity

The dance of the dung beetle

A dung beetle has a brain the size of a grain of rice, and yet it shows a tremendous amount of intelligence when it comes to rolling its food source -- animal excrement -- home. How? It all comes down to a dance.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxWitsUniversity, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

A dung beetle has a brain the size of a grain of rice, and yet it shows a tremendous amount of intelligence when it comes to rolling its food source -- animal excrement -- home. How? It all comes down to a dance.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxWitsUniversity, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

About the speaker

See speaker profile

Marcus Byrne is fascinated by the way insects, particularly the intrepid dung beetle, have hardwired solutions to the challenges posed by their environments. Could they help humans solve problems?

Marie Dacke et al. | Current Biology, February 18, 2013 | Article

Dung beetles use the Milky Way for orientation

We have shown that dung beetles see the Milky Way and use it for orientation.

Jochen Smolka et al. | Current Biology, October 21, 2013 | Article

A new galloping gait in an insect

We have discovered a dung beetle that gallops.

Jochen Smolka et al. | Current Biology, October 23, 2012 | Article

Dung beetles use their dung ball as a mobile thermal refuge

This is the paper that shows how dung beetle deal with hot feet.

About TEDx

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." It supports independent organizers who want to create a TED-like event in their own community.

Find a TEDx event near you