Bogong Moths Navigate Epic Migrations Using Stars and Earth’s Magnetic Field
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📰 The quick summary: Scientists have discovered that migrating bogong moths navigate their 1,000-kilometer journey using both Earth’s magnetic field and the stars as compasses, demonstrating remarkable navigation abilities in these tiny-brained insects.
📈 One key stat: Bogong moths carpet cave walls at a density of 17,000 moths per square meter, forming massive gatherings that create one of nature’s most spectacular insect phenomena.
💬 One key quote: “To get here, these moths have flown from all over southeast Australia through the spring, arriving from as far away as south-eastern Queensland and far-western Victoria. Converted to human body length, these journeys of roughly 1,000 kilometres would be equivalent to a person circumnavigating Earth twice.”
1️⃣ The big picture: Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery about how bogong moths navigate their epic 1,000-kilometer migration to Australia’s Snowy Mountains each summer. These remarkable insects use both Earth’s magnetic field and the stars as compasses to find specific caves where they escape the lethal summer heat. Inside these mountain caves, millions of moths form dense carpets of up to 17,000 per square meter, creating one of the natural world’s most spectacular insect gatherings. This dual-compass navigation system is especially impressive considering the moths’ tiny brain size – about one-tenth the volume of a rice grain.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: The discovery reveals an unprecedented level of navigation sophistication in invertebrates, previously only known in humans and some birds. This dual-compass system provides bogong moths with remarkable resilience – when one navigation method fails, they can rely on the other. Their ability to use the stars as a true compass to determine geographic direction relative to north represents a major evolutionary achievement. The research enhances our understanding of how even small-brained creatures can perform complex navigational feats, potentially inspiring new approaches to navigation technology and highlighting the incredible adaptations that have evolved in nature.
3️⃣ What’s next: Scientists will likely continue studying how these navigation systems work at the neurological level in such tiny brains. Conservation efforts must address the threats facing bogong moths, whose populations have declined by 99.5% due to climate change-induced drought. Protecting these moths is crucial for the fragile alpine ecosystem that depends on them, including endangered species like the mountain pygmy possum.
Read the full story here: The Conversation – Migrating bogong moths use the stars and Earth’s magnetic field to find ancestral summer caves each year
