Australian Moths Are the First Known Insects to Navigate by the Stars, Revealing a Migratory Superpower
Bogong moths use both Earth’s magnetic field and the starry night sky to make twice-yearly migrations spanning hundreds of miles, according to new research
Sarah Kuta - Daily Correspondent
June 23, 2025
Bogong moths are brown, nondescript creatures—but scientists now suggest they are the first known invertebrates to use the stars for navigation. Ajay Narendra (Macquarie University, Australia)
Every spring, billions of nondescript moths hatch in southeast Australia. Not long after, the brown insects—called Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) —take to the skies, flying more than 600 miles to the Australian Alps to escape the summer heat. Once there, they line the walls of cool caves and enter estivation, a summer dormant phase similar to winter’s hibernation. In the fall, they make the return journey to mate and die.
Biologists have long wondered how the nocturnal moths know where to go—especially since each new generation is making the journey for the first time. Past research has suggested they rely on Earth’s magnetic field, but scientists suspected something else might also be at play.
Now, a team of researchers says they’ve solved the mystery. Bogong moths use the starry night sky like a compass while making their twice-yearly migrations, according to a new paper published last week in the journal Nature. The moths are thought to be the first invertebrates to use the stars for navigation.
Fun fact: Bogong moth migration
Weather forecasters at Sydney’s 2000 Summer Olympics thought they saw an ominous storm cloud, then realized it was actually a swarm of millions of Bogong moths drawn to the stadium lights.
“Their parents have been dead for three months, so nobody’s shown them where to go,” says study co-author Eric Warrant, a biologist at Sweden’s Lund University, to CNN’s Jacopo Prisco. “They just emerge from the soil in spring in some far-flung area of southeastern Australia, and they just simply know where to go. It’s totally amazing.”
More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/australian-moths-are-the-first-known-insects-to-navigate-by-the-stars-revealing-a-migratory-superpower-180986857/
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