Dung Beetles Take Celestial 'Snapshots' Of Milky Way To Navigate Their Way: Study

Dung beetles may not be the most liked creatures, but scientists have attributed an interesting skill to them: they are said to be using the Milky Way to get around and navigate their way in the world.

A recent find is even more amazing. A team of Lund University researchers showed that when they "dance" on top of a ball of dung, they take a "snapshot" of the celestial bodies, which gives them leads to identify a particular place to go towards.

"Other animals and insects also use the position of celestial bodies to navigate, but the dung beetles are unique - they are the only ones to take a snapshot where they gather information about how various celestial bodies, such as the sun, moon and stars, are positioned," says Basil el Jundi, a researcher at Lund University and first author of the study.

After taking photographs of the celestial bodies, dung beetles orient themselves in certain directions in the world. With just one snapshot they can navigate the world.

"We are the first to have shown that dung beetles are taking these snapshots," el Jundi said. "We are also the first to show how they store and use the images inside their tiny brains."

The dung beetle shoots pictures during its dances and then stores them in its brain. It then rolls its balls of dung and integrates the information in its snapshot with whatever it observes in its external world.

The Lund University team studied the activities of the insects at a facility in South Africa that explored dung beetles against a backdrop of artificial skies. The team could alter the light and the position of the celestial bodies. Hence, the team compared how the beetles changed direction depending on how the heavenly bodies were placed.

This particular activity makes the dung beetles unique as they shoot the sky----not their surroundings like ants---to guide their navigation.

The findings were published in the May 12, 2016, issue of the journal Current Biology.