JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- An African insect with a tiny brain and minimal computing power is the first animal proven to use the Milky Way to orient itself on the Earth, researchers say.
African dung beetles have eyes too weak to distinguish individual constellations but can use the gradient of light to dark provided by the Milky Way to ensure they keep rolling their dung balls in a straight line and avoid circling back to competitors at the dung pile, Swedish and South African scientists report in the journal Current Biology.