Seals that use star cues

An experiment showed that two trained harbor seals could identify a direction using a starry sky in a purpose-built swimming planetarium: they located a designated “pole star” even when the projection’s orientation changed. A separate study confirmed that seals can see sufficiently bright stars, but did not by itself demonstrate stellar navigation. The results show celestial orientation ability under experimental conditions; how much wild seals rely on stars remains an open question.