SCIENCE
How would you place in a dung beetle derby? Play our fun game to find out!
Discussion Ideas
- The Washington Post says dung beetles are “coprophagic critters” that use celestial navigation to get the ball rolling. What does coprophagic mean?
- Coprophages are organisms that feed on dung or feces. Those meticulous spheres of poop that dung beetles so carefully pilot will soon be dinner.
- In addition to dung beetles, insects such as flies and termites are coprophages.
- Few mammals are entirely coprophagic. Infant mammals such as koalas, pandas, and elephants consume the feces of their mothers to obtain gut bacteria that will allow them to digest food as an adult. Coprophagy benefits other mammals (such as rabbits and chimpanzees) by augmenting gut bacteria and providing additional vitamins.
- Coprophages are organisms that feed on dung or feces. Those meticulous spheres of poop that dung beetles so carefully pilot will soon be dinner.
- What is celestial navigation?
- Celestial navigation describes the process of determining an object’s position using the stars and planets as guides. Dung beetles actually use the Milky Way galaxy itself as a navigational instrument.
- Legendary explorers used sophisticated celestial navigation techniques to map the planet in a pre-GPS world, and is still used today. There are 57 navigational stars; download this map to orient yourself. (If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, you can start more simply by locating Polaris, the current North Star.)
- Celestial navigation describes the process of determining an object’s position using the stars and planets as guides. Dung beetles actually use the Milky Way galaxy itself as a navigational instrument.
- How did scientists determine that dung beetles use celestial navigation to get the ball rolling?
- Researchers placed the insects “in a planetarium where [the scientists] could control the appearance of stars and moonlight. In the new experiment, they used an artificial sun and sky to change variables like the position, polarization and spectrum of light to figure out what cues the beetles needed to stay oriented.”
- How do dung beetles use celestial navigation?
- They dance! It’s important to know that the beetles don’t just roll a ball of dung and pilot it away. Before they get the ball rolling, they do a ridiculous little dance on top of their dung. The dance is the key.
- When researchers “hid cues during the dance but displayed them once the ball got rolling, the beetles were disoriented. But when the cues were present during the dance and hidden during the actual journey, the beetles maintained a straight line with ease.”
- This indicates the insects “might be creating a mental image of the position of certain celestial cues during their dance, then simply comparing that mental image to the position of the cues in the sky as they moved forward.”
- When researchers “hid cues during the dance but displayed them once the ball got rolling, the beetles were disoriented. But when the cues were present during the dance and hidden during the actual journey, the beetles maintained a straight line with ease.”
- They dance! It’s important to know that the beetles don’t just roll a ball of dung and pilot it away. Before they get the ball rolling, they do a ridiculous little dance on top of their dung. The dance is the key.
Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Geographic
TEACHERS’ TOOLKIT
Washington Post: The humble dung beetle is a master of celestial navigation
Nat Geo: Dung Beetle Derby game
(paywalled!) (extra credit!) Current Biology: A Snapshot-Based Mechanism for Celestial Orientation
2 thoughts on “Piloting Poop by Using the Stars”