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Stars in the Milky Way Affect the Orientation Performance of Ball-Rolling Dung Beetles

by myob
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Dung beetles roll their dung balls along straight paths using astronomical orientation from the Milky Way, scientists say. In a planetarium, the beetles orientate equally well when rolling their dung under a full starlit sky as when only the Milky Way is present.

The study of celestial navigation used by beetles for rolling dung in a straight line was published in the Feb 18 2013 issue of The Journal of Current Biology.
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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    Cool - I'll add it to my list of things that Aristophanes and Kafka had in common.
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    • Profile picture of the author Horny Devil
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      I saw that a couple of weeks back on a programme narrated by David Attenborough. Amazing to see them struggling up and down sand dunes pushing their balls.

      Talking of which, I know of a few drunks in our neighbourhood who haul their balls home every night in a similar fashion, albeit not by astronomical orientation. They use the lines in the middle of roads to navigate (or crawl) back to their abode.
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Cool - I'll add it to my list of things that Aristophanes and Kafka had in common.
      I can't believe I'm saying this. I completely get the Aristophanes reference, but have no idea what Kafka is.

      I am an old geeky science nerd...that should never be allowed to speak to twenty year olds.

      And I am not looking up Kafka! Don't even think I'm going to!

      Added later; OK, I looked him up, and read quite a lot about his writing.

      Claude "Always takes the bait" Whitacre

      Originally Posted by Horny Devil View Post

      Talking of which, I know of a few drunks in our neighbourhood who haul their balls home every night in a similar fashion, albeit not by astronomical orientation. They use the lines in the middle of roads to navigate (or crawl) back to their abode.
      That's actually pretty darn clever.
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      • Profile picture of the author Horny Devil
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        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        . . . but have no idea what Kafka is . .

        . . And I am not looking up Kafka! Don't even think I'm going to!
        Didn't he play for Brazil?
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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          Originally Posted by Horny Devil View Post

          Didn't he play for Brazil?
          No, that was Toshack.
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        • Profile picture of the author HeySal
          Originally Posted by Horny Devil View Post

          Didn't he play for Brazil?
          Kafka? Judging from his works, I'd say he probably was more into solitaire than team sports:confused:.

          So what happens when the stars are invisible because of light washout? Would that be a-mazing?
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          • Profile picture of the author myob
            Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

            So what happens when the stars are invisible because of light washout? Would that be a-mazing?
            According to the referenced research paper (Dung Beetles Use the Milky Way for Orientation), they lose this ability for example under cloudy skies. Other scientific studies have shown that these beetles also use the Sun for orientation. Plutarch wrote this observation about beetles:

            "One accepts (with the ancient Egyptians), that these varieties are only male beetles, that they put down their seed substance (semen) which forms a ball and the beetle rolls it forward with its widely spaced hind legs so that the beetle imitates the path of the sun as it went down in the west and rose in the east in the mornings."
            (Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Beetles Rollout from Liverpool)

            The ancient Egyptians worshipped beetles as a god (Khepri) because of this amazing ability to push their balls along a straight line while looking up at the sun and stars.
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            • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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              Originally Posted by myob View Post

              The ancient Egyptians worshipped beetles as a god (Khepri) because of this amazing ability to push their balls along a straight line while looking up at the sun and stars.
              Indeed so. As the saying went in Egypt, around 4,000-5,000 years ago, "they may be lying in the gutter but they're certainly looking at the stars".
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  • Profile picture of the author GT
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  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    There is a type of beetle that grew up in the Pacific that oriented itself by nuclear explosions.
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  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    Once, a successful American businessman (multimillionaire) told me that he modeled his business strategies after the behavior of dung beetles. I thought it was one of the weirdest things I'd ever heard, but didn't get much of a chance to get him to elaborate on that. He did say that he never does business that demands for him to be personally involved in managing things once his contract is fulfilled.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Maschke
    The eyes of men also gravitate towards heavenly bodies too.
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