A small group of Australians has spent the past five years up to their elbows in cow poo.
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But for these dung beetle researchers, it is all in the name of science.
Traps have been laid out at 200 sites across the country, each containing a kilogram of dung to lure the beetle so scientists could trap it. More than a million beetles have been collected and identified.
"You cannot be squeamish because you have to go and pick up nice fresh cow poo in order to bag it," researcher Theo Evans says.
"So you can imagine it was a very kind of messy operation."
After sifting through more than six tonnes of cow and sheep dung, data on the million-plus beetles is being analysed by researchers at the University of Western Australia.
They're trying to work out how certain dung beetles are more effective in some areas than others and save farmers money.
Livestock don't like eating where they poo, so bringing in more dung beetles can help free up grazing land.
"We really want to get more information to farmers who don't really know what's going on with beetles and help them understand how to manage the beetles in order to capture those economic benefits," Professor Evans says.
In early 2023, the researchers will release an interactive map to show which beetles live where across Australia.
"The aim of the survey was to inform farmers what dung beetles can exist on the properties," fellow researcher Jacob Berson says.
"The majority of farmers aren't really aware of dung beetles and what they do."
The model examines beetle activity over the year and across different climates, and Dr Berson says it will help farmers be more productive.
"It's a visual map of Australia that can be zoomed in and out and they (farmers) can see what our predicted species abundance and diversity is for each month of the year," he says.
"We can then predict what the beetle numbers are over every square kilometre of southern Australia."
West Australian cattle farmer Phil Barrett-Lennard says the map will be a great resource.
Beetles were collected at his Gingin property 100km north of Perth over a two-year period as part of the project.
"The monitoring has definitely made us a bit more aware about particular species," he says.
There's good reason to be a dung beetle enthusiast.
"When the dung beetle buries the dung the nutrients in that dung are then made more available to plants," the cattle producer says.
"They're digging holes as well, which is increasing our water infiltration."
Researchers hope to release the analysis of their data within months.
A final report to the federal government will be submitted at the same time, including more details about the economic benefits of the beetle.
Australian Associated Press
