02/04/05 Cow pies

Cow Pies You know, pie is my favorite dessert. It turns out pie is the favorite food of a lot of insects. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll tell you all about pie in one minute. I like all kinds of pie; but the pie many insects like is cow pieyou know cow dung. I never realized just how important cow dung was to so many insects, birds, reptiles, and rodents. According to Steven Rich, president of Rangeland Restoration Academy, he once counted 17 species of insects visiting one cow pie in a five minute periodnow that's quite a turnout at the invitation of one cow pie. Reptiles watch cow dung since it acts as a lure for rodents looking for tasty treats. Some reptiles like the desert tortoise, eat cow pies for the easy calories and B vitamins. Birds sort through cow dung for seeds, insects, and larvae. But the king of the cow pie pile just has to be the dung beetle. These flying cow pie connoisseurs can zero in on fresh dung with detectors sensing odors in parts per billion. Some dung beetles tunnel into cow pies and lay eggs; others, called tumblebugs, roll a piece of the pie into a ball then place it in a hole with their eggs; finally, another beetle type will dig into the ground under a cow pie and lay its eggs. All this digging, tunneling, and rolling loosens and aerates the soil making quite a compost pile. If enough dung beetles are present a cow pie will disappear into the soil in one day; this is all part of good rangeland health. Next time I ride up on a good cow pie I might check it out a little closerIf no one's watching. I'm Jeff Keane. Range Winter 2005