Dung midden

Brown-veined white butterflies (Belenois aurota aurota) on white rhino dung, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa

Dung middens, also known as dung hills,[1] are piles of dung that mammals periodically return to and build up.[2] They are used as a form of territorial marker. A range of animals are known to use them including steenbok,[3] hyrax,[4] and rhinoceros.[5] Other animals are attracted to middens for a variety of purposes, including finding food and locating mates.[5] Some species, such as the dung beetle genus Dicranocara of the Richtersveld in South western Africa spend their whole lifecycle in close association with dung middens.[5] Dung middens are also used in the field of paleobotany, which relies on the fact that each ecosystem is characterized by certain plants, which in turn act as a proxy for climate.[6] Dung middens are useful as they often contain pollen which means fossilized dung middens can be used in paleobotany to learn about past climates.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ The New Encyclopaedia of Mammals D MacDonald 2002 Oxford ISBN 0-19-850823-9
  2. ^ Payne, Ben. "Glossary". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-06-15. Dung midden : Pile of droppings that grows through consistent returns. Used as a territory marker in connection with scent-marking.
  3. ^ Cohen, Michael. 1976. The Steenbok: A neglected species. Custos (April 1976): 23–26.
  4. ^ Scott, L.; B. Cooremans (1992). "Pollen in Recent Procavia (Hyrax), Petromus (Dassie Rat) and Bird Dung in South Africa". Journal of Biogeography. 19 (2): 205–215. Bibcode:1992JBiog..19..205S. doi:10.2307/2845506. JSTOR 2845506.
  5. ^ a b c Burger, B. V.; Petersen, W. G. B.; Weber, W. G.; Munro, Z. M. (2002). "Semiochemicals of the Scarabaeinae. VII: Identification and Synthesis of EAD-Active Constituents of Abdominal Sex Attracting Secretion of the Male Dung Beetle, Kheper subaeneus". Journal of Chemical Ecology. 28 (12): 2527–2539. Bibcode:2002JCEco..28.2527B. doi:10.1023/A:1021440220329. hdl:10019.1/75042. PMID 12564798. S2CID 4769761.
  6. ^ Coetzee, J. A. (November 7, 1964). "Evidence for a Considerable Depression of the Vegetation Belts during the Upper Pleistocene on the East African Mountains". Nature. 204 (4958): 564–566. Bibcode:1964Natur.204..564C. doi:10.1038/204564a0. S2CID 4184470.
  7. ^ Scott, L.; J. C. Vogel (1992). "Short-term changes of climate and vegetation revealed by pollen analysis of hyrax dung in South Africa". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 74 (3–4): 283–291. Bibcode:1992RPaPa..74..283S. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(92)90012-6.
  8. ^ Gil-Romera, Graciela; Louis Scott; Eugène Marais; George A. Brook (2006). "Middle-to late-Holocene moisture changes in the desert of northwest Namibia derived from fossil hyrax dung pollen". The Holocene. 16 (8): 1073–1084. Bibcode:2006Holoc..16.1073G. doi:10.1177/0959683606069397. S2CID 128755819.
  9. ^ Carrión, Jose S.; Louis Scott; John C. Vogel (1999). "Twentieth century changes in montane vegetation in the eastern Free State, South Africa, derived from palynology of hyrax dung middens". Journal of Quaternary Science. 14 (1): 1–16. Bibcode:1999JQS....14....1C. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1417(199902)14:1<1::AID-JQS412>3.0.CO;2-Y.