[imagesource: Villiers Steyn / Shutterstock]

My favourite Carte Blanche moments involve somebody being caught deep in the kak, and then trying to backpedal their way out of it.

There have been some outlandish excuses, and many years ago I recall somebody suddenly switching accents on a phone call when they realised who was on the other end of the line.

This Carte Blanche segment is a little different, in that it involves an industrious little beast that thoroughly enjoys being in amongst the kak.

We have previously touched on what makes the dung beetle such a remarkable creature, but as we near what has been dubbed “the looming dung Armageddon”, their importance nay become even more prominent.

Here’s the write-up for the video segment:

One cow produces about 30kg of manure every day. With an estimated 1,5 billion cattle in the world it is estimated that by 2030 the world will be producing 5 billion tonnes of dung every year – most of it by livestock.

An excess of nitrogen-rich manure is bad news for rivers and oceans – where much of the dung ends up. Carte Blanche introduces the miracle contribution of the mighty and brilliant dung beetle.

Not only does it navigate using the Milky Way when it flies and helps keep soils in water-scarce countries like South Africa porous, it can pull and process over a thousand times its own body weight in animal waste, which makes it a productive cleaning machine in the looming dung Armageddon.

In amongst the tidal wave of terrible news, here’s a little respite from it all, found in a rather unexpected place:

[source:carteblanche]