The Dung Beetle’s Moonlight Sonata

July 3, 2003

As a biological sciences librarian, I have the pleasure of working with some great coleopterists. Had you asked me a year ago whether I would ever blog about the dung people beetle (now that’s a strange freudian slip) or polarization patterns, my answer would probably have been no…

At first glance, the African dung beetle does not cut an impressive figure. It is, after all, a creature that devotes much of its energy to rolling excrement into little balls for later consumption. But research published today in the journal Nature indicates that dung beetles may possess a talent previously unknown in the animal kingdom: the ability to navigate by moonlight. [Scientific American]

I find it interesting - what more can I say?!

Posted in Science