Humans Are Not The Only Earthlings To Navigate By The Stars

Keith’s note: As you have probably heard by now the elements that compose Earth and all of the life on it came from the stars. Meteorites from comets and asteroids constantly bombard our home world and sometimes cause dramatic changes to its environment. Radiation from our local star drives our ecosystems. Distant events such as supernovae and gamma ray bursts may directly impact life. We are made of star stuff as Carl Sagan once said – but were are still connected to things beyond out home world. Life forms can respond to gravity vectors, temperature and pressure changes, chemical gradients, Earth’s magnetic field, and radiation sources – all of which overlap and interact and have been shaping our world since it first formed. Another omnipresent feature has been the stars in the night sky. Due to the way Earth orbits the sun and the distant, slowly changing nature of star patterns, it is not surprising that various life forms evolved the ability to use the stars to navigate from one place to another for food, mating, hibernation etc. Some life forms even use lunar cycles (“months”) to drive their behavior. In the example below, Bogong moths use the night sky to guide them during long-distance travel. More at Astrobiology.com: Bogong Moths Use Stars In The Night Sky To Navigate Hundreds Of Kilometers