Most dung beetles use the manure of herbivores, which do not digest their food very well. Their dung contains half-digested grass and a smelly liquid. It is this liquid that the adult beetles feed on. Some of them have specialized mouthparts designed to suck out this nutritious soup, which is full of microorganisms that the beetles can digest.

A few species feast on the dung of carnivores, while others skip the doo-doo and instead eat mushrooms, carrion, and decaying leaves and fruits.

Scientists group dung beetles by the way the beetles make a living: rollers, tunnelers, and dwellers. Rollers form a bit of dung into a ball, roll it away, and bury it. The balls they make are either used by the female to lay her eggs in (called a brood ball) or as food for the adults to eat.

Tunnelers land on a manure pat and simply dig down into the pat, burying a portion of the dung. Dwellers are content with staying on top of the dung pat to lay their eggs and raise the young.