”To navigate by the stars is a property that only humans, with the help of a sextant, and some nocturnal migratory birds possess. Now we can establish that the bogong butterfly is the third species that masters this feat”, says biology professor Eric Warrant in a press release from Lund University.
He has led a study where the researchers have used flight simulators and brain analyses to get an answer to how the nocturnal butterflies can find their way to a place they have never been to before.
They use the stars of the Milky Way as a compass, but when clouds hide the stars, they can use the Earth's magnetic field as a complementary compass, according to the study published in the scientific journal Nature.
After the summer in the caves, they then fly all the way back again to mate, lay eggs and die.
In the study, the nocturnal butterflies' brains have also been examined to map where the information about the stars is stored. Their brains are the size of a tenth of a grain of rice.
