Significance We show that South African dung beetles use a multimodal orientation compass based on celestial cues and wind cues to steer across the savanna. The cue preference between these 2 modalities is set in a flexible manner: at low sun elevations, the beetles use a celestially driven compass, but switch to a wind-dominated compass at high sun elevations. This switch allows the beetles to orient with high precision even when the midday sky no longer provides reliable directional input. Moreover, our data suggest that the wind and celestial cues converge in the same memory network in the brain. This spatial memory based on both modalities allows the animal to rely on the most reliable cue at any moment in time.