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French Bull Ants Use Lunar Compass for Night Navigation

5/18/2026

46 9 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

Cody Freas reported that bull ants in France navigate at night using a lunar compass.
According to Rodolfo da Silva Probst, the ants track time since leaving the nest to predict the moon’s position, called time compensation, and also integrate terrestrial and solar cues at dawn and dusk.
Dark-box trials caused ants to veer off course when the moon shifted, with transparent-box trials keeping them oriented, showing lunar guidance.

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Story summary

Cody Freas reported that bull ants in France navigate at night using a lunar compass.
According to Rodolfo da Silva Probst, the ants track time since leaving the nest to predict the moon’s position, called time compensation, and also integrate terrestrial and solar cues at dawn and dusk.
Dark-box trials caused ants to veer off course when the moon shifted, with transparent-box trials keeping them oriented, showing lunar guidance.