* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Saturday, July 5, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Max-Matching Entertainments & Longhua District form partnership for new entertainment complex – Blooloop

    Max-Matching Entertainments and Longhua District Unite to Launch Thrilling New Entertainment Complex

    Kennedy Publishing, MGA Entertainment Launch Yummiland Magazine – License Global

    Kennedy Publishing, MGA Entertainment Launch Yummiland Magazine – License Global

    MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE 🙏 Veteran entertainment columnist and talent manager Lolit Solis has passed away. She was 78 years old. https://tinyurl.com/6kumarkx | LatestChika.com – Facebook

    Beloved Entertainment Icon Lolit Solis Passes Away at 78 – A Life Remembered with Love and Respect 🙏

    Neil Young Plays Rare Full-Band ‘Ambulance Blues’ With The Chrome Hearts – Yahoo

    Neil Young Stuns Fans with Rare Full-Band Performance of ‘Ambulance Blues’ Alongside The Chrome Hearts

    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    Nantucket Dance Festival opens July 8 – The Inquirer and Mirror

    Nantucket Dance Festival Launches with Thrilling Performances Beginning July 8

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    New Technology for Water Efficiency and Working with Mexico on Screwworm – AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST

    Revolutionary Water Efficiency Technology and Cross-Border Collaboration to Defeat Screwworm

    Environmental cognitive distance, R&D capability distance, and supply chain green technology innovation – Nature

    Bridging Gaps: How Environmental and R&D Differences Drive Green Technology Innovation in Supply Chains

    LG Innotek CEO Moon Hyuksoo: “Our Next-gen Substrate Technology Will Change the Industry Paradigm” – TechPowerUp

    LG Innotek CEO Moon Hyuksoo: “Our Next-Gen Substrate Technology Will Revolutionize the Industry” Revolutionizing the Future: LG Innotek’s CEO Unveils Game-Changing Next-Gen Substrate Technology

    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Max-Matching Entertainments & Longhua District form partnership for new entertainment complex – Blooloop

    Max-Matching Entertainments and Longhua District Unite to Launch Thrilling New Entertainment Complex

    Kennedy Publishing, MGA Entertainment Launch Yummiland Magazine – License Global

    Kennedy Publishing, MGA Entertainment Launch Yummiland Magazine – License Global

    MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE 🙏 Veteran entertainment columnist and talent manager Lolit Solis has passed away. She was 78 years old. https://tinyurl.com/6kumarkx | LatestChika.com – Facebook

    Beloved Entertainment Icon Lolit Solis Passes Away at 78 – A Life Remembered with Love and Respect 🙏

    Neil Young Plays Rare Full-Band ‘Ambulance Blues’ With The Chrome Hearts – Yahoo

    Neil Young Stuns Fans with Rare Full-Band Performance of ‘Ambulance Blues’ Alongside The Chrome Hearts

    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    Nantucket Dance Festival opens July 8 – The Inquirer and Mirror

    Nantucket Dance Festival Launches with Thrilling Performances Beginning July 8

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    New Technology for Water Efficiency and Working with Mexico on Screwworm – AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST

    Revolutionary Water Efficiency Technology and Cross-Border Collaboration to Defeat Screwworm

    Environmental cognitive distance, R&D capability distance, and supply chain green technology innovation – Nature

    Bridging Gaps: How Environmental and R&D Differences Drive Green Technology Innovation in Supply Chains

    LG Innotek CEO Moon Hyuksoo: “Our Next-gen Substrate Technology Will Change the Industry Paradigm” – TechPowerUp

    LG Innotek CEO Moon Hyuksoo: “Our Next-Gen Substrate Technology Will Revolutionize the Industry” Revolutionizing the Future: LG Innotek’s CEO Unveils Game-Changing Next-Gen Substrate Technology

    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

These ants are the first known animals to use moonlight to find their way home

July 11, 2024
in Science
These ants are the first known animals to use moonlight to find their way home
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

As the sun goes down outside of Sydney, Australia, bull ants march out of their nests and into the trees.

Once there, the ants attack other insects and arthropods, as well as collect tree sap and other resources, before returning to the nest with their haul before dawn. 

However, unlike many other ant species, which follow the scent trails left by their sisters, bull ants of the species Myrmecia midas don’t appear to communicate by chemical signal. Instead, each forager forges its own path.

And that raises an interesting question: How do nocturnal bull ants find their way home in the dark?

“It’s always kind of been this mystery,” says Cody Freas, a neuroethologist at Macquarie University in Australia. 

Fortunately, a new study appears to shine some light on this enigma: Bull ants use the moon’s polarized light like a nocturnal compass, the scientists conclude. 

Polarized patterns

While human eyes are attuned to certain wavelengths of light emitted by the sun and stars or reflected from the moon, the top-most part of bull ants’ eyes can see a pattern in the sky that’s invisible to us—polarized light. This pattern shines through even when celestial bodies are obscured by clouds.

By manipulating the pattern with a filter placed over the ants as they returned to nests in the wild, the scientists were able to show that the insects were following that signal and making course-corrections based on it in real-time, as opposed to navigating based on a memory of its position.

The filter “basically changes the entire sky above them,” explains Freas, who was lead author of the study, recently published as a preprint in the journal eLife.

The ants showed themselves capable of navigating by polarized moonlight even during a crescent moon, when the light signal would have been just 20 percent as strong as a full moon—which itself provides light one million times weaker than direct sunlight.

While dung beetles are known to use polarized light from the moon and even stars to keep their balls rolling in a straight line, this is the first time an animal has been shown to navigate by polarized moonlight toward a fixed location—the bull ants’ home.

(Watch dung beetles take their dinner to go.)

Bulls on parade

While the study is the first to document the ants’ use of polarized light for nocturnal navigation, the scientists have had a hunch for awhile now that the moon was involved. 

“A big hint that the moon was kind of at play is that you see a 20 percent increase in foragers when the moon is full, versus a new moon [when the sky is much darker],” says Freas, referring to an earlier study of closely-related M. pyriformis ants.

This suggested that bull ants could see better when moonlight was stronger.

Interestingly, despite traveling up to 78 feet along the ground in the dark, Freas says nearly every ant makes it back to the nest. In fact, in all his observations of bull ants, he’s only noticed a single ant go missing. 

“They live for over a year, and they typically go to the same tree every night. So it’s not a new route every night,” says Freas. “So that suggests, at least to me, that they’re really good at getting home. There’s very little getting lost, and there’s also very little overnight predation.”

Bull ants are considered quite feisty, especially when disturbed by humans, which may also deter other predators. Freas says the largest bull ants can be more than an inch long, and capable of stinging curious scientists through their gloves. (He knows from experience, by the way.) 

“If you’re moving around while you’re near the nest, they will home in on your movement and continue to go after you for multiple meters,” he says.

(Learn about an ant that rips itself apart to protect its own.)

‘Chasing ants around in the dark’

Since researchers previously discovered that dung beetles navigate by polarized light at night, finding the same ability in another insect isn’t too surprising. In fact, it’s likely still more insects are navigating by these cues, unbeknownst to us.

The catch is, you need a good behavior that allows you to test for it, says James Foster, a neuroethologist at the University of Konstanz in Germany who studies dung beetles.

For instance, when dung beetles collect their little ball of animal feces, they try to roll it away from competitors as quickly and efficiently as possible. Usually, that means a straight line.

Similarly, bull ants returning home from a night of foraging is a repeatable behavior that allowed the scientists to test their theories upon, he says. But there is a big difference between the two animals.

Dung beetles “don’t have to find any specific location,” says Foster who reviewed the study during the publication process. “Whereas for these ants, they have to find their way home quite precisely.”  That makes the bull ants’ feat even more impressive. 

The other big difference? Dung beetles don’t sting.

“I can’t imagine how difficult these experiments were to do, chasing ants around in the dark,” says Foster.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : National Geographic – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/bull-ants-moon-polarized-light-navigate-first

Tags: FirstscienceThese
Previous Post

What is Parkinson’s disease—and why is it so hard to diagnose?

Next Post

10 of the best hotels in Rome, Italy

Special Feature: Intraspecific variation in ecology & evolution – besjournals

Exploring the Fascinating World of Intraspecific Variation in Ecology and Evolution

July 5, 2025

NASA’s Lucy Mission Provides Full View of Asteroid Donaldjohanson – NASA Science (.gov)

July 5, 2025
Even old brains can make new neurons, study suggests – Popular Science

Even old brains can make new neurons, study suggests – Popular Science

July 5, 2025
Jonathan Anderson reinvents JW Anderson as lifestyle brand – FashionNetwork Canada

Jonathan Anderson Reinvents JW Anderson as a Vibrant Lifestyle Brand

July 5, 2025
Review: Jurassic World Rebirth is a prehistoric disaster – AZFamily

Jurassic World Rebirth: A Prehistoric Disaster Unleashed

July 5, 2025
Max-Matching Entertainments & Longhua District form partnership for new entertainment complex – Blooloop

Max-Matching Entertainments and Longhua District Unite to Launch Thrilling New Entertainment Complex

July 5, 2025
Elon Musk vows to start a new political party after Trump feud. Here’s why that’s harder than it sounds. – CBS News

Elon Musk vows to start a new political party after Trump feud. Here’s why that’s harder than it sounds. – CBS News

July 5, 2025
New Technology for Water Efficiency and Working with Mexico on Screwworm – AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST

Revolutionary Water Efficiency Technology and Cross-Border Collaboration to Defeat Screwworm

July 4, 2025
California AG Rob Bonta says online fantasy sports platforms are illegal in the state – KCRA

California AG Rob Bonta Cracks Down, Declares Online Fantasy Sports Platforms Illegal

July 4, 2025
Bridge Point Tacoma permit and settlement – Washington State Department of Ecology (.gov)

Bridge Point Tacoma permit and settlement – Washington State Department of Ecology (.gov)

July 4, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (705)
  • Economy (731)
  • Entertainment (21,620)
  • General (15,718)
  • Health (9,768)
  • Lifestyle (735)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (731)
  • Politics (739)
  • Science (15,948)
  • Sports (21,229)
  • Technology (15,715)
  • World (712)

Recent News

Special Feature: Intraspecific variation in ecology & evolution – besjournals

Exploring the Fascinating World of Intraspecific Variation in Ecology and Evolution

July 5, 2025

NASA’s Lucy Mission Provides Full View of Asteroid Donaldjohanson – NASA Science (.gov)

July 5, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version