Grazing cattle tend to align themselves to Earth's magnetic field

[lozina]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...26/dude_wheres_my_cow/

Grazing cattle display animal magnetism
Bodies align to north-south axis
By Lester Haines ? More by this author
Published Tuesday 26th August 2008 09:46 GMT
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Researchers have explained why grazing cattle will tend to face the same direction when grazing - a behaviour long known to herdsmen and hunters but previously attributed to either prevailing winds or the sun's position.

In fact, Reuters reports, they align their bodies along a north-south axis, suggesting the Earth's magnetic field is the "polarizing factor".

To prove it, Sabine Begall and colleagues at the University of Duisburg-Essen perused 8,510 Google Earth images encompassing 308 pastures and plains worldwide, plus "deer bed" impressions in snow created by around 3,000 deer in over 225 locations in the Czech Republic.

The team found that "whether grazing or resting, these animals face either magnetic north or south". Since the direction of the wind and sun "varied widely where the images were taken", it's reasonable to suggest they're reacting to the planet's magnetic influence.

Begall and colleagues reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: "Our results call for an in-depth study of this phenomenon and challenge neuroscientists, biochemists and physicists to study the proximate mechanisms and biological significance of magnetic alignment."

As Reuters notes, "birds, turtles and salmon are known to use the Earth's magnetic field to guide their migrations, while rodents and one bat species have been found to possess an internal magnetic compass". This is the first time, however, that large mammals have shown this kind of animal magnetism.

The team's report does, though, suggest that humans and whales are "suspected of having an innate magnetic compass", demonstrated by previous research showing that people who "sleep in an east-west position have far shorter rapid eye movement or REM sleep cycles... compared with north-south sleepers who got more REM sleep".

I find this very interesting because just recently I was doing some work in my bedroom where I had to have a wall my bed usually rests against free, so I rotated my bed 90 degrees and pushed it up against a different wall temporarily - for about a week now - and I noticed I have been sleeping better (waking up feeling well rested and not lazy like usual). I didn't realize it until reading this article and looking at a map, that my new bed's position is now aligned north-south.

 

[andy04]

Moral of the story... ur pole should be parallel to the earth's pole

 

[Cattlegod]

Since the direction of the wind and sun "varied widely where the images were taken", it's reasonable to suggest they're reacting to the planet's magnetic influence.

So I recon that moss also grows based on the earth's magnetic field.

Additionally, I would like to know how they figured that the wind and sun "varied widely". Did they have the dates of the images and the weather forecasts on those days?

 

[PottedMeat]

Do they put magnets in cows still to pick up debris? ( or was that something else i dunno? ). Maybe they point N-S because it's more comfortable with the magnets in them... though the liquid in their stomachs would have to be pretty low viscosity.

 

[Arcadio]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod

Since the direction of the wind and sun "varied widely where the images were taken", it's reasonable to suggest they're reacting to the planet's magnetic influence.

So I recon that moss also grows based on the earth's magnetic field.

Additionally, I would like to know how they figured that the wind and sun "varied widely". Did they have the dates of the images and the weather forecasts on those days?

It is very unlikely that the wind would be blowing in a north-south direction in the majority of pictures analyzed.

 

[herm0016]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod

Since the direction of the wind and sun "varied widely where the images were taken", it's reasonable to suggest they're reacting to the planet's magnetic influence.

So I recon that moss also grows based on the earth's magnetic field.

Additionally, I would like to know how they figured that the wind and sun "varied widely". Did they have the dates of the images and the weather forecasts on those days?

look at the shadows in the images?

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod

Since the direction of the wind and sun "varied widely where the images were taken", it's reasonable to suggest they're reacting to the planet's magnetic influence.

So I recon that moss also grows based on the earth's magnetic field.

Additionally, I would like to know how they figured that the wind and sun "varied widely". Did they have the dates of the images and the weather forecasts on those days?

Moss grows on the shady side of the tree. If the tree is completely shaded, you'll get moss all over it.