Celestial navigation of a native moth

During their annual 1,000-kilometre journey to cool inland caves the Bogong moths have to rest in human hubs. There they get vacuumed and sprayed as pests with pesticides or just squashed by 'progress'. Few of the endangered species make it after their round-the-world journey to return home to Australia’s highest mountain range.

"Our results suggest that Bogong moths use stellar cues and the Earth’s magnetic field to create a robust compass system for long-distance nocturnal navigation towards a specific destination."
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Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09135-3
#insects #Bogong #moths #CelestialNavigation #compass #AgrotisInfusa #MagneticField #MilkyWay #EndangeredSpecies #biodiversity

Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09135-3

#HackerNews #Bogong #Moths #Stellar #Compass #Navigation #Nature #Nighttime #Migration

"Each spring, billions of Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) migrate hundreds of kilometres south to the Australian Alps, guided by the austral night sky. The discovery that they can find their way using only the stars — reported in an 18 June Nature paper — makes this moth the first invertebrate to be observed using celestial navigation for long-distance journeys."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01935-x

#Moths #Nature #Migrations #Bogong #Australia #Navigation #CelestialNavigation

The #Bogong #moth follows the #stars to fly hundreds of miles. Their brain cells also got excited in response to specific orientations of the night #sky. apnews.com/article/bogo... Study: www.nature.com/articles/s41... #insects #astronomy #migration #moths #orientation #marvelsOfNature

This Australian moth uses the ...

A touch of snow on Bogong today, after the opening weekend of the ski season.

#Bogong #Snow #Australia

The current issue of the insect #conservation non-profit, #Xerces Society is now available (free download). This issue is mostly about #moths
Gardening for Good
The Glorious Diversity of Moths
The #Bogong Moth
Enjoying Moths in Your Garden

#insects #entomology
https://www.xerces.org/publications/wings-magazine/wings-461-fall-2023-moths

It was pointed out to me that my recent photo of Mt #Bogong looks real upside down. Spooky.

A fascinating story of ecology, change and #Aboriginal people's care for Country.

The ancient #Burramys -- Mountain Pygmy Possum -- a small species in a harsh habitat, depends on a moth food source which is plummeting.

The #Bogong moths, which 'aestivate' (rather than hibernate) in the mountains, have been a traditional seasonal marker in #Ngarigu Snowy Mountain Country. The #Ngambri people hold the sacred site of 'Uriarra Moth Stone', a flat expanse of granite the size of a basketball court. The name means 'running to the feast'. The rock is a feasting table, where everyone was invited to grow fat on the huge migration of delicious moths collected from the mountain caves in dillybags. The moths use the #MilkyWay to navigate on their huge migration from the Western Plains. But from incredible abundance, the moth population has plunged by 99.5% after three drought years. Possum babies simply starved in their mother's pouch. Following the giant bushfires of Jan 2020, the Burramys population was kept going by 'Bogong bikkies' -- a fallback food they had been tempted to eat made up with moth-like nutrition.

Read on for ' The Song of the Menero women' -- the first printed piece of music in Australia, which calls on the autumn full moon to bring the snows...

"Together these creatures have become symbols of what Australia stands to lose in this warming century: unique, species, ecological relationships and even entire ecosystems."

#ClimateDiary #Australia #MountBlueCow
https://www.biographic.com/of-moths-and-marsupials/

Researchers uncover extraordinary navigation skills of #bogong #moths in #NSW #SnowyMountains. The moths are the only known #insects in the world to travel such a long distance, at night, from a broad geographical region to a very specific destination, in their first and only return journey.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-20/bogong-moth-navigation-mystery-research/102367702

Researchers uncover extraordinary #navigation skills of #bogong #moths in NSW Snowy Mountains. "If the bogongs stopped coming to the mountains, entire ecosystems could collapse from the bottom up”
I remember them being sprayed with #pesticides and sucked up with vacuum cleaners in Sydney.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-20/bogong-moth-navigation-mystery-research/102367702
migratory species, Threatened Species.
Australian #Alps #KeystoneSpecies #Extinction

It’s brilliant to hear that the #endangered #Bogong #Month has bounced back from being #endangered , thanks to the unrelenting #LaNina and her attachment to Australia

The #bogong moth population has started to bounce back after nearing #extinction but the insect’s future remains fragile.
“Turn off unnecessary outdoor lights, don’t use #insecticides, plant native plants to support #moth migration up to the alps and back to their breeding grounds again in autumn, and keep using things like Moth Tracker to help us gather data”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/17/bogongs-back-la-nina-rains-help-mo

#Bogong

Some more pics of the ‘big fella’ #Bogong

More pics to come but here’s a view from #Bogong - Victoria’s highest mountain.

So near and yet so far. No trips up the hill for us for a few months yet because of a major landslide that's blocked the road halfway up the mountain.

We can still admire the view while having breakfast and relaxing in the back yard :)

(Snow was there a few days ago, but it's probably washed away by the recent rain now.)

#FallsCreek #Bogong #LandSlide #Weather #Climate #Australia

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-14/landslide-bogong-high-plains-road-mount-beauty-falls-creek/101643342?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web