We are not the only ones to look at the sky

Until recently, we knew that only Humans, Birds and Seals use the starry night for navigation. 

A new research teaches that Dung Beatles also share this use of the starry night sky. 

 "Researchers made this discovery after examining the different ways in which the beetles push their balls of dung. Under normal conditions, the insects store their dung balls in a secure location by moving it along a straight path. As the study notes, the beetles were able to replicate this behavior under moonlit nights and on dark nights when only the Milky Way was visible, but struggled to navigate under more overcast conditions. In planetarium tests, they performed equally well under a fully starlit sky and one showing only the Milky Way. When researchers strapped visors to their heads to block out the sky entirely, they were completely disoriented."

Image of the night sky of the Milky Way, our Galaxy, above Paranal observatory, taken by ESO astronomer Yuri Beletsky. The image is Qutoed from Wikipedia under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unprported license.


Don't you think it is a great opportunity to hear Don Mclean's "Starry Starry Night" and wonder what other aspects of star gazing other beings might share with us ? 


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