Stargazing Aussie Moths https://particle.scitech.org.au/earth/stargazing-aussie-moths/

#BogongMoths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09135-3

"Each spring, they migrate up to 1000 kilometres to remote #caves in the #AustralianAlps... In a 2018 study, researchers discovered the bogong #moth can sense the Earth’s magnetic field and use it as a guide... It turns out the magnetic field is a backup navigational aid the #moths rely on during cloudy conditions when the stars aren’t visible."

https://theconversation.com/migrating-bogong-moths-use-the-stars-and-earths-magnetic-field-to-find-ancestral-summer-caves-each-year-259361

#BogongMoths

Tiny #Moth Seen Navigating by The Stars in Scientific First https://www.sciencealert.com/tiny-moth-seen-navigating-by-the-stars-in-scientific-first

Bogong #moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09135-3

"When the warmer days of spring spread across the country, billions of #BogongMoths up stakes and fly, unerringly and only at night, up to 1,000 km to a place they have never been before: the cool #caves high in the #AustralianAlps... they use the starry sky without any additional cues to fly in that direction"

Good to see recovery of Bogong moths this year due to triple #LaNina.
Bogong moths migrate to alpine areas in the summer and their sharp population decline by 99.5% due to #drought years imperiled other species survival like the Mountain Pygmy possum. An example of how decline in one species can affect the breeding and decline in another.

#Biodiversity #BogongMoths #MountainPygmyPossum #Australia
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/17/bogongs-back-la-nina-rains-help-moth-numbers-recover-from-near-extinction