
The Sleeping World: Rolling Under the Milky Way with a Dung Beetle
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Narrated by:
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Cynthia Kimola
About this listen
Wind down by escaping into nature. Part soundscape and part bedtime story, The Sleeping World is an intimate journey through ecologies around the world.
Dung beetles might sound dirty, but the ancient Egyptians believed their god took the form of a dung beetle to roll the morning sun across the sky every day. In this episode, we roll with dung beetles around the world as they push their precious dung—often in balls many times larger than they are—over Florida pastures, Armenian highlands, and the vast South African savanna.
This is the world in its natural state, defined by seasons, routines, and cycles. As we roll with these glittering beetles, we can imagine a giant dung beetle slowly rolling our planet through the solar system, rotating us gently into each coming night, and safely into each new day.
Produced by Audible and Mumble Media
Written by Cara Ehlenfeldt and Jake Young
Narrated by Cynthia Kimola
Executive Producers for Mumble Media: Cara Ehlenfeldt and Jake Young
Executive Producer for Audible: Anna Stitt
Sound Design and Mix: Mumble Media
The Mumble Media team is Jaymeson Catsouphes, Cara Ehlenfeldt, Chester Gwazda, Liz Mak, Lee Mengistu, Renée Vargas, and Jake Young
Dung Beetle Consultant: Rachel Stone
Fact-Checker: Andrea López-Cruzado
Head of Creative Development at Audible: Kate Navin
Chief Content Officer at Audible: Rachel Ghiazza
Available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.
©2025 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2025 Audible Originals, LLCPeople who viewed this also viewed...
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What listeners say about The Sleeping World: Rolling Under the Milky Way with a Dung Beetle
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Scarlett Custer
- 03-30-25
prove there is a God
Scarab Beatles prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that a very intelligent being created the Earth with an eye for every detail to make it to heal and replenish it’s self
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1 person found this helpful
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- pet person
- 03-30-25
Loved it. Very relaxing
Fun, informative, relaxing. Loved the narrator. Love the sounds in the background. Love the respect for the little beetle
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2 people found this helpful
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- Ara
- 03-30-25
Refreshing and calming reading
It was like I was listening to one of my aunts reading to me. I’m 2 decades old 🤫.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Tom
- 04-02-25
Dung Beetle’s song
Background noise was soothing and storytelling was fascinating. Narrators voice was magnificent! Great overall listen.
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2 people found this helpful
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- T.C.
- 04-11-25
Superb
The writing is excellent, sound is superb, and the voice is top notch. So much work and love was put into making this.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-30-25
Relaxing, informative
I have really enjoyed The Sleeping World audio before bed. The only problem is that sometimes it soothes me to sleep!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Cgrazer
- 04-02-25
Wonderful
I drift off easily to the soothing sounds. The narrator’s voice is calming and I enjoy the stories.
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