A comprehensive inventory of model hard-working animals, dung beetles are on the list?

Today is the third day of the May Day holiday. Where did everyone go to play?

As workers, we can finally use this rare holiday to relax and see different scenery, but looking at some species in the animal kingdom, it is difficult for them to stop working once they start...

The moment this swift chick flew out of the nest, it had no intention of landing.

Most species of swifts are more accustomed to living in the air. Once they enter the blue sky, they spend half their lives flying. They not only drink water and hunt in the air, but also mate and sleep while flying . The degree of fatigue is so severe that it makes your arms sore. But since swifts have chosen to fly, they will stick to it to the end. They fly for a long time without losing speed. They are one of the fastest birds in level flight.

Image source: bing pictures

They can stay in flight mode for a long time, so they are naturally very capable. Swifts have very long wings, with ten long primary wing feathers and a set of short aileron feathers. The overall wings are narrow and sickle-shaped, which provides maximum protection for their long-term flying and gliding.

At the same time, their feet have degenerated to the point where they can only cling to vertical surfaces. Once they land on flat ground, their short legs cannot walk or jump, and cannot support the energy required for takeoff. The wings that account for too large a proportion of their body also become a complete burden on the ground, so their ability to fly without landing stems from their belief in survival .

That’s right, the protagonists are still birds.

This time it is the Arctic tern , a medium-sized seabird. Their breeding and wintering grounds are located at the poles of the earth. In March, they all head north, only to reproduce in the Arctic Circle in May and June. After the chicks hatch and learn to fly, they all head south to pursue the Antarctic summer. The round-trip distance is about 40,000 kilometers, so it is no surprise that they are famous for their migration distance.

Red is the breeding area, blue is the wintering area, and green is the migration route

Image source: Wikipedia

Arctic terns travel between the poles, see two summers a year, and enjoy the most daylight hours of any animal. Like swifts, they have remarkable long-distance flying abilities.

Apart from breeding, Arctic terns rarely come ashore because they fly over the sea for a long time and have also learned superb diving techniques for hunting.

Image source: Wikipedia

Arctic terns have a long lifespan; 20 years is common, and the longest recorded lifespan is 34 years.

In order to achieve the KPI of "living in summer forever", their leap starts from a lifetime, so how can it be considered as diligently completing the tribal tasks?

For people who work in infrastructure, the work is not easy. The process from nothing to something requires a lot of manpower and material resources.

In order to complete their tasks, the infrastructure experts among animals are also ruthless, such as beavers (also called beavers).

As a large rodent, its short and round body makes it difficult for it to move on the ground, but fortunately it leads a semi-aquatic life.

Image source: bing pictures

Beavers have a unique understanding of building a home. They like to build their nests under the roots of trees by the river, and hide the entrance in the water. They also try to cover the pores of the nests on the ground with fallen leaves to achieve sufficient concealment. When the water level drops or when they reach a new territory, beavers begin to show their exquisite dam-building skills .

Image source: bing Image text is made by the author

Beavers have good teeth and can easily chew trees, bring these branches and stones, and mix them with mud. Beavers use these materials to build dams in rivers or streams to change the direction of water flow and achieve the purpose of water storage. In order to make their homes safer and more comfortable, they can only tirelessly look for new materials.

It can be said that they are either building a house or on the way to find building materials.

There is also a group of animals that work hard not for themselves, but as "technicians" who quietly contribute to others in the group. The first representatives are bees and ants, but today we will not talk about them, but dung beetles.

Dung beetles are the common name for dung beetles. They are not cute animals because they have a natural smell. On the contrary, people feel nauseous when they talk about them. The word "shit" in the name is because dung beetles feed on feces. When they find feces, they will "roll" it into a ball and roll it all the way home as a reserve food for their family to eat.

Dung beetle at work Source: bing pictures

Even though pushing manure seems like a lowly skill, you really can't do it well.

Dung beetles are strong beetles, and adults can pull objects that are 1,141 times their own weight. They have to go back and forth countless times to bury most of a pile of elephant dung in their underground storage rooms. In order to ensure the "freshness" of their food, the tiny dung beetles dare not slack off, and work selflessly on the African savannah.

But they are more than just dung pushers.

The dung beetle also has a lesser-known name, the scarab (sacred beetle). The ancient Egyptians regarded it as a symbol of the sun, and it is also a totem in Africa, because they symbolize hard work, repetition and endless life.

Image source: Red China

Their job of "moving feces underground" not only ensures they have enough food and drink, but also plays an important role in solving bacterial hazards and secondary seed spread.

For such a true model worker , its small body seems to become majestic.

References:

1.Workaholic Creatures: 8 Hardworking Animals In The Kingdom

https://misfitanimals.com/animals/hardworking-animals/#:~:text=The%20most%20hardworking%20animals%20in%20the%20world%20include,amaze%20you%20with%20their%20strength%2C%20resilience%2C%20and%20abilities.

2. wikipedia - Apodidae

https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E9%9B%A8%E7%87%95%E7%A7%91

3. Wikipedia - Sterna paradisaea

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E6%A5%B5%E7%87%95%E9%B7%97

4.Beaver dams attenuate flow: A multi-site study

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hyp.14017

5. Encyclopedia Britannica - Dung Beetle

https://www.britannica.com/animal/dung-beetle

Author: Fish

Winner of the Silver Award for Outstanding Science Popularization Works of China Science Writers Association

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