NavList:

you wrote:
>It is interesting to note that this research on beetle orientation was conducted
>partly in Johannesburg, South Africa, close to 27.1S, which just happens to be
>one of those places where the Milky Way can be aligned right along the horizon
>for a portion of each night, rendering it completely invisible. Do the dung
>beetles panic when that happens??

This effect (disorientation during parts of the year) was the reason they found out that it was the Milky Way glow that the beetles used for night-time orientation. Of course that was after they consulted an astronomer. Maybe the "navigation" part of the story has originated in media interpretations of what the research actually says. I have watched a TV program where they interviewed the researcher about this (she is swedish and the show was also in swedish) when she explained what had happened to get the Ig Nobel prize.

/Johan Linnér
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