Field of fresh cow pats welcomes first dung beetles to be rewilded in France

Sixty of the keystone species released near Bordeaux to feast on waste from wild cattle and help restore a vital habitat on the Atlantic coast

In a forest clearing filled with cowpats, French history is being made: the country's first translocation of dung beetles in a nature reserve near Bordeaux.

With the same pomp and ceremony afforded to the release of an Iberian lynx or a European bison, about 60 ball rolling" insects were brought to the marshy forests of Etang de Cousseau in south-west France on Wednesday to restore a vital ecosystem function on the Atlantic coast.