Desert ants of the Cataglyphis nodus species use the Earth’s magnetic field for spatial orientation, but rely on a different component of the field than other insects. This is the result of a survey published in the journal Current Biology by a research team led by Pauline Fleischmann from the University of Oldenburg, Germany. It suggests that the ants use a different mechanism for magnetoreception than most insects studied to date, including the famous monarch butterflies. The researchers suspect that magnetoreception in desert ants is based on a mechanism involving tiny particles of the iron oxide mineral magnetite or other magnetic particles