Dung Beetles Navigate by Milky Way

You may have known that, apart from humans,  birds and seals also tend to navigate by the stars.

But were you aware the same is done by dung beetles? Who would have thought these muck ball rolling little creatures which always stay close to the ground and often feed below it, are even aware of the skies above?

Yet scientists have proven dung beetles use the Milky Way for orientation, making sure they  move in straight lines.

Having taken the insects into the Johannesburg planetarium and exposing them to controlled conditions in terms of types of star fields visible to the beetle, a South African researcher managed to offer some compelling evidence to support the thesis.