Stand outside one spring night in southeastern Australia and you may be able to witness one of the biggest insect migrations in the world, as billions of brown Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) flit across the sky.
Each year in the spring, the moths migrate around 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) north to the Australian Alps, where they can avoid the heat by hiding in cool caves until the fall, when they return to their breeding grounds. While migration is not uncommon in insects, the Bogong moth’s migration has been of particular interest to experts — how does a moth travel to a place it’s never visited before?
