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The dance of the dung beetle

1,155,829 views |

Marcus Byrne |

TEDxWitsUniversity

• August 2012

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.

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.

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About the speaker

Marcus Byrne

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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?

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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.