The sky at night. It inspires awe. It inspires thoughts of an existential nature: Who are we? Why are we here? And, perhaps most importantly of all, in which direction should I roll this big ball of shit? That is, if you’re a dung beetle . The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Yes, in 2013, the global community was stunned by the first report of an insect using a galaxy for orientation. Reaching this groundbreaking discovery required wit, it required cunning, and best of all, it required putting little hats on dung beetles.

“African ball-rolling dung beetles exploit the [Sun], the [Moon], and the celestial polarization pattern to move along straight paths, away from the intense competition at the dung pile,” wrote the st

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