Guided by the stars — how nature navigates at night

There are thousands of stars above us, more than our eyes can perceive. Some are a constant presence, a comfort in the deep night, while others only appear at certain times of year. Some are nameless and far away, and some hold stories, passed from the elders to each new generation, shaping and guiding life on Earth.

Across the African continent, stars hold deep cultural significance. They’re ancestral spirits, bridges to the spirit realm, myths and parables. They mark the start and end of the harvest and help us navigate across land and water. But we aren’t the only species that rely on them in this way. Certain animals have also adapted unique means of navigating using celestial cues.

Much like diurnal migratory birds, certain species of butterflies, like the African monarch, rely on the position of the sun to find their way. Internal circadian clocks located in their antennae and compound eyes, which register ultraviolet and polarised light, help them calculate the sun’s position as it moves through the sky.

The monarchs then adjust the angle of their flight throughout the day to keep a straight path as they flit around in search of food, even compensating for wind. But like the beetles and birds mentioned above, they lose their ability to navigate effectively in areas with extreme light pollution, flying in endless, uncertain circles.

Finding food in the wild is one thing. Holding onto it, another. Where mammals leave scat, dung beetles gather. Some species move during the day, using the sun to orient themselves. But the African nocturnal dung beetle waits until nighttime to claim its bounty.

Competition for this valuable resource is fierce, meaning the beetles must roll their balls away to a safe place to feed and establish nests. While they rarely travel far, they still need to find their way through the dark. To do this, they follow the Milky Way, whose constant band of light helps them move swiftly in straight lines to safety. They are the only insects currently known to do this.

Each year, as seasons shift, millions of birds take off from Europe and Asia, bound for the warmer climates of southern and eastern Africa. Some, like Barn swallows and European bee-eaters, fly by day, guided by the sun and specific markers in the landscape. By night, other migrant songbirds, like warblers, nightingales, and swallows, look to the stars to find their way.

Rather than following a single star, young birds memorise a map of the entire sky during their first migration and carry it with them for life. The slow rotation of constellations around the celestial pole provides a steady frame of reference. When clouds obscure the stars, these birds rely on polarised light and the pull of an internal magnetic compass to hold their course. Guided by these overlapping systems, they cross vast distances with incredible precision, always arriving where they need to be, and when.

The wisdom woven through the natural world is a different kind than our own intelligence — instinctive, enduring, and precise. As we continue to discover more of the secrets nature holds, who knows what more we will discover, how much more there is to see and understand, and learn from.

The next time you find yourself looking up into the cosmos, consider what it means to share it. The lights that stir our imagination are the same that carry others safely across the dark. In this quiet continuity, there is something grounding — a reminder that we are part of a system much older and more intricate than us, moving together under the same star-filled sky.