Dung Beetles Use Milky Way to Keep Their Dung Balls Rolling on a Straight Path
Posted on January 24, 2013
A report, published online in Current Biology, reveals that dung beetles can use the Milky Way for navigation. Researchers, led by Marie Dacke of Lund University in Sweden, discovered that dung beetles can transport their dung balls along straight paths even during overcast conditions. In a planetarium, the dung beetles stayed on a straight track equally well under a full starlit sky and one showing only the diffuse streak of the Milky Way.
Dacke said in the announcement, "Even on clear, moonless nights, many dung beetles still manage to orientate along straight paths. This led us to suspect that the beetles exploit the starry sky for orientation - a feat that had, to our knowledge, never before been demonstrated in an insect."
Decke also says, ""Dung beetles are known to use celestial compass cues such as the sun, the moon, and the pattern of polarized light formed around these light sources to roll their balls of dung along straight paths. Celestial compass cues dominate straight-line orientation in dung beetles so strongly that, to our knowledge, this is the only animal with a visual compass system that ignores the extra orientation precision that landmarks can offer."
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