Plants deceive dung beetles - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

Will it be well when He searches you out? Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man?
Job 13:9

Plants deceive dung beetles
People deceive people – and even try to deceive God. This happens quite deliberately. Animals follow their instincts, but even among them deceptive manoeuvres can be observed. They mimic their surroundings so skilfully that they become nearly invisible. Some insects are created by God to resemble another species closely. This allows them to deceive other animals.

Even plants master the art of “deception”. Often, the seeds of shrubs are spread by small rodents that collect and bury seeds and nuts. In South Africa, researchers discovered a shrub that bears nuts with a pungent smell. Native rodents avoid these hard seeds, but the dung beetle is fooled by them. It mistakes the smelly nuts for the droppings of a small antelope, which it needs to form dung balls and lay its eggs in. With great effort the beetle rolls the nuts, which resemble the droppings in both shape and smell, to store them underground – and only realises the “deception” when it tries to lay its eggs and finds the nuts too hard for the purpose. The plant has thus achieved two goals: the nuts are safely buried and cannot be eaten by other animals, and in the event of a bushfire, the plant may die but the seeds survive and can sprout.

Indeed, animals and people can be deceived – but never God. Of Him it is said: “With Him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are His” (Job 12:16).

Today’s reading: Judges 21:1-25 · Psalms 77:1-10