Dung beetles. Scientists think they evolved 150 million years ago, along with flowering plants, which had become the main food of herbivorous dinosaurs.

Much of the plant matter passed through the dinosaurs’ guts, producing huge volumes of poop with some nutritive value—for a new kind of beetle to capitalize on.

Today, there are 8,000 species completely dependent on dung. They eat it, make homes of it, and lay their eggs in it so their hatchlings will have food.

Some species live in the dung. Others tunnel under it, to pull it into their burrows. The most famous make big balls of it and roll them away for safe keeping.

But first, they climb on top of the ball and do a little dance. Scientists think they’re taking a “photo” of the sky to orient themselves.

They then push the ball off at top speed, to avoid it being stolen by another hungry dung beetle.

If they get knocked off course, they climb back on the ball, reorient themselves to the sky, and carry on.

They can orient to the sun, the moon, and when there are neither of these, even the Milky Way.

Researchers have even put dung beetles in planetariums, and they’ve navigated just fine to the projected galaxy.

But when they blindfolded the beetles, they couldn’t orient at all and just pushed their dung balls around in circles.

Dung beetles’ chosen food, and their single-minded dedication to it, may seem funny to us. But like other nocturnal animals, from frogs to seals, they are amazing animal astronomers.