Bogong Moths Are First Bugs Known to Use Stars for Long-Distance Travel
Every spring in the Southern Hemisphere, Bogong moths migrate up to 621 miles (1,000 kilometers) from southeast Australia to spend the summer in cool caves in the Australian Alps. At the beginning of the fall, they fly back to their breeding grounds and die. Each moth undertakes the two-way journey only once in its life—so how does it know where it’s going? A team led by David Dreyer, a visiting research fellow in sensory biology at Lund University, suggests that Bogong moths may use the starry