Mammal camera traps are sexy and butterfly nets make you feel like a Victorian scientist. But nothing beats the gruesome realities of catching dung beetles. Dung beetles are just about one of the most important and cost-effective animals you can sample, whether you’re doing so to test the impacts of humans on the biodiversity or are exploring solutions to environmental problems. But more on that another time.
In the meantime, here’s a little-seen glimpse into the world of dung beetle sampling in a tropical rainforest.
(P.s. the video below was part of a short series of other videos, that include camera trapping mammals and mist netting birds, so the first 40 secs may not make sense..)
Disclaimer: This is actually not how I set my traps. For some reason I got a bit carried away and decided to make it look a bit more cinematic, with the whole two Y-shaped stick thingy…
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