Edited by Chelsea Jackson for Director Allison Otto and National Geographic

4 minutes | 2017

Laying underneath large piles of bison poop in the plains of Colorado are some of the most beautiful insects that you may ever see. Rainbow scarabs, a type of dung beetle native to North America, are notable for their metallic, emerald green exoskeletons, and they play an important role as recyclers of animal excrement in the Great Plains ecosystem. Dr. Frank Krell, curator of entomology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, goes into the field to study the decline of the region’s dung beetle populations and whether reintroducing bison herds to the area may mean a comeback for this gorgeous poop-eating species.