This moth species may use the Milky Way as its guiding star

Bogong moths migrate up to 1,000 kilometers to summer in cool caves

A fuzzy brown moth with scattered white markings on its wings faces left as it rests on a sandy, brown stone.

Bogong moths’ (Agrotis infusa) spring migration takes them up to 1,000 kilometers away from plains in southeastern Australia to cool mountain caves located farther south. To get there, the insects rely on stars and Earth’s magnetic field.

Ajay Narendra/Macquarie University

One kind of Australian moth looks to the stars on its voyage to a summertime refuge.