Brown-veined white butterflies (Belenois aurota aurota) on white rhino dung, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa
Dung middens, also known as dung hills,[1] are piles of dung that mammals periodically return to and build up.[2] They are used as a form of territorial marker. A range of animals are known to use them including steenbok,[3] hyrax,[4] and rhinoceros.[5] Other animals are attracted to middens for a variety of purposes, including finding food and locating mates.[5] Some species, such as the dung beetle genus Dicranocara of the Richtersveld in South western Africa spend their whole lifecycle in close association with dung middens.[5] Dung middens are also used in the field of Paleobotany, which relies on the fact that each ecosystem is characterized by certain plants, which in turn act as a proxy for climate.[6] Dung middens are useful as they often contain pollen which means fossilized dung middens can be used in paleobotany to learn about past climates.[7][8][9]
^The New Encyclopaedia of Mammals D MacDonald 2002 Oxford ISBN 0-19-850823-9
^Payne, Ben. "Glossary". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-06-15. Dung midden : Pile of droppings that grows through consistent returns. Used as a territory marker in connection with scent-marking.
^Cohen, Michael. 1976. The Steenbok: A neglected species. Custos (April 1976): 23–26.
^Scott, L.; B. Cooremans (1992). "Pollen in Recent Procavia (Hyrax), Petromus (Dassie Rat) and Bird Dung in South Africa". Journal of Biogeography. 19 (2): 205–215. doi:10.2307/2845506. JSTOR 2845506.
^ abcBurger, B. V.; Petersen, W. G. B.; Weber, W. G.; Munro, Z. M. (2002). "Semiochemicals of the Scarabaeinae. VII: Identification and Synthesis of EAD-Active Constituents of Abdominal Sex Attracting Secretion of the Male Dung Beetle, Kheper subaeneus". Journal of Chemical Ecology. 28 (12): 2527–2539. doi:10.1023/A:1021440220329. hdl:10019.1/75042. PMID 12564798. S2CID 4769761.
^Coetzee, J. A. (November 7, 1964). "Evidence for a Considerable Depression of the Vegetation Belts during the Upper Pleistocene on the East African Mountains". Nature. 204 (4958): 564–566. Bibcode:1964Natur.204..564C. doi:10.1038/204564a0. S2CID 4184470.
^Scott, L.; J. C. Vogel (1992). "Short-term changes of climate and vegetation revealed by pollen analysis of hyrax dung in South Africa". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 74 (3–4): 283–291. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(92)90012-6.
^Gil-Romera, Graciela; Louis Scott; Eugène Marais; George A. Brook (2006). "Middle-to late-Holocene moisture changes in the desert of northwest Namibia derived from fossil hyrax dung pollen". The Holocene. 16 (8): 1073–1084. Bibcode:2006Holoc..16.1073G. doi:10.1177/0959683606069397. S2CID 128755819.
^Carrión, Jose S.; Louis Scott; John C. Vogel (1999). "Twentieth century changes in montane vegetation in the eastern Free State, South Africa, derived from palynology of hyrax dung middens". Journal of Quaternary Science. 14 (1): 1–16. Bibcode:1999JQS....14....1C. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1417(199902)14:1<1::AID-JQS412>3.0.CO;2-Y.
Dungmiddens, also known as dung hills, are piles of dung that mammals periodically return to and build up. They are used as a form of territorial marker...
than 5%) live beyond 3 years of age. A pack rat midden is a debris pile constructed by a woodrat. A midden may preserve the materials incorporated into it...
A rock hyrax midden is a stratified accumulation of fecal pellets and a brown amber-like a urinary product known as hyraceum excreted by the rock hyrax...
kestrels, who can see the near ultraviolet and thus find their prey by their middens and territorial markers. Seeds also may be found in feces. Animals who...
Coprinus sterquilinus, the midden ink cap, is a species of fungus in the family Agaricaceae. It grows on animal dung and occurs in Europe, Asia and America...
territory with urine and probably with dung, which is not covered with soil. Claw scratching is prominent, and dungmiddens are typically not formed. In Israel...
season, adult males tend to be territorial, and mark their range with dungmiddens. In most parts of their range, mating takes place from September to November...
where their mate is most of the time. Scent marking is primarily through dungmiddens. Territories range from 4 hectares to 1 square kilometre. The male is...
feature of the social behaviour of oribi is the "dung ceremony", in which all animals form temporary dungmiddens. Oribi at least three months old have been...
(Procavia capensis Pallas). These Hyraxes have communal toilets or dungmiddens. These middens are probably a stable and dependable food source for Versicorpus...
heuweltjies as dungmiddens; they are often colonised by Brant's whistling rats (Parotomys brantsii); and sheep graze and leave dung on them. Fairy circle...
many mammals, such as [mole (animal)|mole]]s or hyraxes, is also called a midden. Some lizards, such as yakka skinks (Egernia rugosa) and thorny devils use...
Middenstead: The place where a dunghill is formed; a dunghill, a midden. Midden: 1. a. A dunghill, a dung heap; a refuse heap. Also: a domestic ash-pit. Hassan 1998...
large-scale Mesolithic nut processing, some 8,000 years old, was found in a midden pit on the island of Colonsay in Scotland. The evidence consists of a large...
unearthed seed grains from a midden suggesting that barley was cultivated. Fish bones and shells are common in the midden indicating that dwellers ate...
includes kitchen waste (spoiled food, trimmings, inedible parts), ash, soil, dung and other plant matter. In waste management, it also includes some inorganic...
Kazakhstan found layers of horse dung, discarded in unused house pits in both settlements. The collection and disposal of horse dung suggests that horses were...
some locations required sand, chopped straw or other binders such as animal dung to be mixed in with the mud to increase durability and plasticity. Workers...
(430 ft) below present or possibly lower. The appearance of marine shells in middens in other caves on Lipuun Point from c. 7000 BP, and especially in later...
to dumps on the banks of the River Thames such as the appropriately named Dung Wharf—later the site of the Mermaid Theatre—from which it was transported...
District contains the intact Plum Orchard mansion dating to the 1890s, a shell midden dating back over 4,000 years, and the mansion's support structures including...
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