T’was a Beetle, Who Dung the Moon Picture yourself a mere inch tall. It’s night-time. You look up, gazing to the inky heavens, barely able to make out the few brightest points of light with one pair of your four basic eyes. But you can see a sparkling few. You can see the luminescent streak of the Milky Way clearly, though, stretching across the black. You line yourself up with it, and keep pushing that ball of poo back home. That’s right. You’re a dung beetle! When you’re out collecting your fecal feasts during the day, you follow the path of the Sun like so many other creatures do. But at night, you have a special trick, never-before observed by those enormous human scientists who are always messing with you. Using an top-mounted pair of eyes specially evolved to catch light that’s been polarized by the atmosphere, you track the glowing Moon as a beacon toward which you roll your poo pellet. If there’s no Moon? Then you can actually track the glow of the Milky Way, bent ever so faintly by Earth’s night air. But little do you know that the Milky Way you’re looking at isn’t even real. It’s in a planetarium! You’re part of an experiment, little dung beetle. Those pesky humans scooped you up, put you in a dark, domed room, and projected the night sky above you. All to test whether you, a wee beastie who munches on dung, could appreciate the cosmos in your own way … a sailor of the night, shepherding your dung boat back to shore. Want to find out more about the amazing research on dung beetles using the Milky Way to navigate? Check out Not Exactly Rocket Science.
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T’was a Beetle, Who Dung the Moon

Picture yourself a mere inch tall. It’s night-time.

You look up, gazing to the inky heavens, barely able to make out the few brightest points of light with one pair of your four basic eyes. But you can see a sparkling few.

You can see the luminescent streak of the Milky Way clearly, though, stretching across the black. You line yourself up with it, and keep pushing that ball of poo back home.

That’s right. You’re a dung beetle! When you’re out collecting your fecal feasts during the day, you follow the path of the Sun like so many other creatures do. But at night, you have a special trick, never-before observed by those enormous human scientists who are always messing with you.

Using an top-mounted pair of eyes specially evolved to catch light that’s been polarized by the atmosphere, you track the glowing Moon as a beacon toward which you roll your poo pellet. If there’s no Moon? Then you can actually track the glow of the Milky Way, bent ever so faintly by Earth’s night air.

But little do you know that the Milky Way you’re looking at isn’t even real. It’s in a planetarium! You’re part of an experiment, little dung beetle. Those pesky humans scooped you up, put you in a dark, domed room, and projected the night sky above you. All to test whether you, a wee beastie who munches on dung, could appreciate the cosmos in your own way … a sailor of the night, shepherding your dung boat back to shore.

Want to find out more about the amazing research on dung beetles using the Milky Way to navigate? Check out Not Exactly Rocket Science.

204 Notes/ Hide

  1. drhoz reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
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  5. bathtubginrummy reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    Best GIF ever.
  6. retromantique reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    lol what a glorious gif, too
  7. amysuniverse reblogged this from sagansense
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  14. rubyeveryday reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    Terry Pratchett was almost right! From Pyramids: And...sky. Many people
  15. applefaerie reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  16. fallariera reblogged this from anotherfirename
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  18. anglerfishy reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    This entire post made me laugh. Silly
  19. achilles101 reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  20. eternalacademic reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    Ahh, sorry - I already reblogged this story, but this GIF needs
  21. m-o-w-e reblogged this from jtotheizzoe

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