Despite its tiny size, the polyphagous shot hole borer should not be underestimated. Across the Western Cape, it’s destroying indigenous and endemic trees.
Researchers have developed a tiny wireless steerable camera that can be fitted to an insect – in this case, a beetle – which then streams video to a smartphone.
They may seem to be simple beasts, rolling turd into balls as part of nature’s waste disposal unit, but the humble dung beetle is one crafty creature.