Elephants’ decline portends dung beetle co-extinction

ENVIRONMENT – BIODIVERSITY

31 MAY 2026

• Elephants are keystone species that sustain savannah ecosystems.
• A long-term study in East Africa has reported that dung beetles depend heavily on elephant dung.
• Following a 15-year field experiment, researchers concluded that beetle species richness dropped by 23%, and total beetle biomass fell by 51% sans elephant dung.
• Smaller herbivores, like cattle or zebras, could not fill the gap.
• The elephants’ decline could thus trigger a coextinction cascade that could also reduce seed dispersal.