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From dung beetles to seals, these animals navigate by the stars [1]

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Date: 2019-11-04 16:40:21+00:00

Humans have been navigating by the stars since ancient times, but a small yet diverse group of species also use the night sky to get around. Some recognise the movement of star patterns, while others get their bearings via particularly bright individual stars. A few even plot their course via our galaxy, the Milky Way.

From dung beetles to seals, steering by the stars is a critical skill, as it aids them in migrating, finding food, or searching out mates. Even a creature as small as a dung beetle, with a brain the size of a grain of rice, can gaze up at the starry night and decide where to go. (See five more amazing animal navigators.)

“I find this extremely fascinating,” says Marie Dacke, an expert in animal navigation at Sweden’s Lund University. “Every time I look at [dung beetles], I am really impressed by what they are able to do.”

A stellar compass is often one of many navigational cues, such as visual landmarks, the position of the moon, wind direction, or even Earth’s magnetic field.

Overall, scientists hope to understand how the eyes and brains of such celestial navigators have evolved to respond to visual cues from far beyond our own solar system. Such research could offer new insights into the effects of light pollution on wildlife, and may even improve the design of robots that need to find their way around.

Here are some examples of stellar navigators.

Indigo buntings

Like many migratory songbirds, indigo buntings of North America fly south for winter—and prefer to do so at night.

In 1967, researchers in Michigan temporarily captured several indigo buntings during their autumn migration. They brought the birds to the Robert T. Longway Planetarium in Flint, Michigan, and placed them in special cages that afforded a view of the starlit dome.

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[1] Url: https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/2019/11/dung-beetles-seals-these-animals-navigate-stars

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