A night-sky guide for a ground-level jobSourced
A dung beetle can orient using the Milky Way
Research on the African nocturnal dung beetle Scarabaeus satyrus found that it can use the Milky Way’s bright band to maintain direction while rolling a dung ball. A pattern overhead helps guide a very terrestrial transport task.
The same sky can serve a very different purpose.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Dung beetle · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-05