A bit too strong? No, this record has nothing to do with the way they smell. A recent study determined that a dung beetle can pull 1,141 times its own body weight. Just picture how they figured that out:
Dung beetles developed this strength in other to compete for mates, but that isn't their only strategy. Some weaker male dung beetles mate successfully because they have “substantially bigger testicles”. Link
(image credit: Alex Wild)
In the study, scientists calibrated the males’ strength by gluing a cotton thread to the beetles’ hard wing-cases, stringing the thread across a pulley, and tying it to a miniature bucket, to which they added drops of water [ScienceNOW]. The dung beetle’s coronation as the world’s strongest insect steals the thunder from the rhinoceros beetle, which can lift up to 850 times its own weight.
Dung beetles developed this strength in other to compete for mates, but that isn't their only strategy. Some weaker male dung beetles mate successfully because they have “substantially bigger testicles”. Link
(image credit: Alex Wild)
I mean, think of all the crap they have to deal with.
Average weight: 180lbs
180 x 850 = 153000lbs = 76.5 Tons
That's crazy!