My really ****ty photograph

[Mike Buckley]

This is a photo of elephant dung, which is pervasive in the reserve and national park that we visited in South Africa. I asked my wife to take it (I post-processed it) because the photo is a good reminder of some really fascinating information.

The national park that we visited asks that drivers avoid the dung because dung beetles use it for food. (They use buffalo dung for food and as a breeding nest.) The Addo dung beetle, which is a flightless subspecies, is endemic to South Africa and now exists only in certain areas of the country. If you are familiar with the iconic scarab of Egyptian lore, it is a dung beetle.

Notice the large amount of vegetation in the elephant dung. This is typical, as only a relatively small amount of food the elephant eats is actually digested. The stomach is used more for storage than digestion. That explains why elephants are nearly constantly grazing. Otherwise, their huge bodies wouldn't receive enough nutrients.

[Bobobird]

Bull**it? Hol***ap?

Cow dung, for example, is mixed in mud, dried into brick shapes and used for making village houses in many countries.

[chauncey]

To Much Information

[tbob]

I feel we need a sense of scale here. If you come across some more can you hold the entire clump next to your head?

[Mike Buckley]

Aside from Bobo's one informational comment, you folks are way too funny!

[Manfred M]

I feel we need a sense of scale here. If you come across some more can you hold the entire clump next to your head?

Not quite the head, but close. A picture my wife took at an elephant sanctuary in northern Thailand. The guide is holding two fresh elephant turds.

Mike - Why do our wives take these sh***y pictures anyways?

[nimitzbenedicto]

hmmmmm...........................

[Mike Buckley]

I have only one thing to say about the photo that Manfred's wife took: Better the guide than me.

[Colin Southern]

Just to add to the "uses of" ...

I've seen books for sale her made from recycles Elephant dung and according to Bear Grylls, you can wring the "water" from fresh dung and use it to survive (personally, I think I'd almost prefer death ).

[Colin Southern]

And a moral of the tale ...

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold; the bird froze up and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, an elephant came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of elephant dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him!

The morals of this story are:

• Not everyone who drops **** on you is your enemy.
• Not everyone who gets you out of **** is your friend.
• And when you're in deep ****, keep your mouth shut!

[Stagecoach]

Maybe I would be better off getting an elephant than buying fertiliser in packets for my vegetable plot

Thanks for the educational pictures Mike.

Grahame

[rtbaum]

I once shot a photo of my sister-in-law collecting moose pellets, she planned on decorating them as Christmas decorations. They were being stored in a Hershey Kisses bag.

Mike- That is the ****tiest photograph that you have posted thus far

[Mike Buckley]

They were being stored in a Hershey Kisses bag.

Yikes! That would be a huge shock to a little kid trying to get a quick grab of chocolate.

[davidedric]

When making a fire by friction between two pieces of wood (not a trick I can pull off) the guys use dried elephant dung as kindling. Just though you might want to know that