Test Combo

Deep in the African bush lives an insect that most people would rather not think about, yet one that quietly does something extraordinary every single night. The dung beetle makes its living rolling balls of animal dung across the ground to bury and eat later. Not glamorous work. But while it rolls, it does something remarkable: it looks up at the sky and navigates by the Milky Way.

When the moon is absent, dung beetles orient themselves using the faint band of the galactic core overhead. Scientists confirmed this in a 2013 study by placing tiny cardboard hats on the beetles to block their view of the sky — and the beetles immediately began walking in confused circles. Remove the hat, and they straightened right out. Tiny cardboard hats. For science. Peer-reviewed.

The beetles cannot see individual stars the way we do, but their compound eyes detect the contrast and direction of the Milky Way's luminous streak, which is enough to keep them rolling in a perfectly straight line. This matters enormously: rolling away from the dung pile in a straight line means less chance of bumping into competitors who want to steal the prize.

They are the only known non-human animals on Earth to use the galactic center for navigation. So next time you look up at the Milky Way and feel a quiet sense of wonder, know that somewhere on the savanna a small determined beetle is doing exactly the same thing — only with considerably more practical goals in mind.