There are dung beetle species of various colors and sizes, and some functional traits such as body mass (or biomass) and leg length can have high levels of variability.

Dung beetles live in many habitats, including desert, grasslands and savannas,[10] farmlands, and native and planted forests.

[16] A species of dung beetle (the African Scarabaeus zambesianus) navigates by polarization patterns in moonlight,[17] the first animal known to do so.

Cambefort and Hanski (1991) classified dung beetles into three functional types based on their feeding and nesting strategies such as – Rollers, Tunnelers and Dwellers.

[26] They are widely used in ecological research as a good bioindicator group to examine the impacts of climate disturbances, such as extreme droughts[27] and associated fires,[28] and human activities on tropical biodiversity[29][30] and ecosystem functioning,[31] such as seed dispersal, soil bioturbation and nutrient cycling.

[32][33] Dung beetles have been further shown to improve soil conditions and plant growth on rehabilitated coal mines in South Africa.

The American Institute of Biological Sciences reports that dung beetles save the United States cattle industry an estimated US$380 million annually through burying above-ground livestock feces.

[42] As well as improving pasture soils the Dung Beetle Release Strategy Group said that it would result in a reduction in emissions of nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas) from agriculture.

[43] There was, however, strong opposition from some at the University of Auckland, and a few others, based on the risks of the dung beetles acting as vectors of disease.

[48] The Mediterranean dung beetle (Bubas bison) has been used in conjunction with biochar stock fodder to reduce emissions of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, which are both greenhouse gases.

Comparisons of the treatment and control groups were made to show that top growth and roots significantly increased when the dung was mixed well into the soil in the pots.

This suggests that dung beetles have many positive implications for the environment, including a beneficial role with plant life.

[51] In Isan, Northeastern Thailand, the local people eat many different kinds of insects, including the dung beetle.

Egyptian hieroglyphic script uses the image of the beetle to represent a triliteral phonetic that Egyptologists transliterate as xpr or ḫpr and translate as "to come into being", "to become" or "to transform".

The derivative term xprw or ḫpr(w) is variously translated as "form", "transformation", "happening", "mode of being" or "what has come into being", depending on the context.

The astronomical ceiling in the tomb of Ramses VI portrays the nightly "death" and "rebirth" of the sun as being swallowed by Nut, goddess of the sky, and re-emerging from her womb as Khepri.

The image of the scarab, conveying ideas of transformation, renewal, and resurrection, is ubiquitous in ancient Egyptian religious and funerary art.

One scholar comments on other traits of the scarab connected with the theme of death and rebirth: It may not have gone unnoticed that the pupa, whose wings and legs are encased at this stage of development, is very mummy-like.

It has even been pointed out that the egg-bearing ball of dung is created in an underground chamber which is reached by a vertical shaft and horizontal passage curiously reminiscent of Old Kingdom mastaba tombs.

"[53]In contrast to funerary contexts, some of ancient Egypt's neighbors adopted the scarab motif for seals of varying types.

The best-known of these being Judean LMLK seals (8 of 21 designs contained scarab beetles), which were used exclusively to stamp impressions on storage jars during the reign of Hezekiah.

The eagle, in despair, flies up to Olympus and places her latest eggs in Zeus's lap, beseeching the god to protect them.

When he demands golden shoes like those the king's horse wears and is refused, he flies away and has a series of adventures, which are often precipitated by his feeling of superiority to other animals.

[54] In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, the transformed character of Gregor Samsa is called an "old dung beetle" (alter Mistkäfer) by a charwoman.