Dung beetles don't have a great reputation, but new research suggest they could actually improve air quality.
Methane needs an anaerobic (oxygen free) environment to develop, so when the beetles dig through excrement and let air in it prevents the gas from escaping in its most lethal form.
Livestock's "burps and farts" create and overwhelming amount of methane gas, their droppings are also responsible for the harmful substance, a University of Helsinki press release reported.
"Cow pats offer a prime food for a large number of organisms. In fact, there are probably as many beetle species living in dung as there are bird species on this planet."
Agriculture is responsible for a large chunk of greenhouse gases, which take part in global warming.
"You see, the important thing here is not just how much carbon is released" Tomas Roslin, head of the research team, said. "The question is rather in what form it is released. If carbon is first taken up by plants as carbon dioxide, then emitted in the same format by the cows eating the plants, then the effect of plants passing through cattle will be small in terms of global warming. But if in the process the same carbon is converted from carbon dioxide to methane -- a gas with a much higher impact on climate -- it is then that we need to worry."
Most of the beetles spend their entire lives digging through dung, and unintentionally aerating it.
The discovery may seem like good news, but the benefits of the peculiar beetles might not make as much of an impact in the future.
"When you combine the current increase in meat consumption around the world with the steep declines in many dung beetle species, overall emissions from cattle farming can only increase," Eleanor Slade, a dung beetle expert of the University of Helsinki and Oxford University, said.
