Cowism
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    • I'm Sorry, What Was Your Name Again?
  • Cow And Humanity
    • Cow Is Complete Ecology
    • Cow: An Engine Of Progress And Prosperity
    • Cow: A Life Form For All-round Good Of The World​
  • Cows Are Cool
    • The Old Man And The Cow - An Extraordinary Friendship
    • A Mean Leopard : Moo-ved By The Love of A Cow
    • Ways To Cool Down An Angry Bull
    • Looking Beyond Their Exterior
    • Motherly Licks That Saved A Life
    • Brainy Bovines
    • Cows Don’t Want to Die
    • Emily the Cow Who Saved Herself
    • Cows Never Forget A Place or a Face
    • Wooden Cow Moo-ves Hearts
    • The Social Lives of Cows
    • Canada Owes A Lot To This Cow
    • Gentle Giants
    • Cows To Reform Prisoners In Indian Jails
    • Cows Grieve
    • She Liked To Listen To Your Story
    • The Brave Russian Bull
    • Cows Are Intensely Emotional
    • Cow Feeds Baby Goats
    • Some Facts About Cows!
    • This One Is ‘Paan’ Fanatic!
    • Kids And Cows - In Ancient India
    • Cows Love This 8 Years Old Girl
    • Study : Cows Excel At Selecting Leaders
    • Bulls - An Observation
    • An Old Cow Tugs At Millions of Heartstrings
    • Cow’s Cradle
    • Sweet Music for Milking
    • Happy Cows, Happy Society
    • Holy Cow! De-stressing Is So Simple
    • The Path of Prosperity - Little Girl Has Better Idea
    • Cows - Fussy About Cleanliness
    • Cows Moo With A Regional Accent
    • Canny Cows
    • The ‘Gentle’ Bessie
    • 14 Cows For America
    • Ganga’s Story
    • Cows Form Cliques!
    • Cowlick - The Way To Give ‘Solace’
    • Story of Sadie - The Face of Modern Dairy Industry
    • Cows Have Strange Sixth Sense
    • Cows Are Precious
    • Ignorance - A Prerequisite of The Standard Western Diet
    • Inseparable Friends - A Calf And A Goat
    • What Do Cows Drink? - A Riddle
    • Suddenly in Fashion - Farming and Cows
    • Cow Fashion Show
    • This One Was My Bodyguard
    • Appendix
  • To Kill Cow
    • Section I : Life Is Sacred >
      • Animals Have A Soul
      • Mother And Child - A Story
      • Religious Philosophy And Attitude Towards Animals
      • Hunter And The Sage
      • Legalized Terrorism - Animal Abuse And Killing
    • Section II : Why Do Indians Consider Cow As Sacred? >
      • Sacred Cow - A Dumb Indian Idea?
      • Cow Gives And Gives And Gives
      • Humanity Owes Milk Debt To Cows
      • Cow - The Provider of All Human Necessities
      • Cow - A Symbol of Innocence, Purity And Magnanimity
      • To Further The Cause of Cow Protection
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COWS ARE COOL: LOVE ‘EM!

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41.
Cows Have Strange Sixth Sense


        Researchers at a German University used Google Earth to find that cows tended to face north-south along the Earth’s magnetic field lines while grazing or resting.
        Past research has shown that wind and sunlight can cause herd animals such as cows to change their alignment, depending on the conditions. Researchers used Google Earth satellite images to see how cows align themselves in a magnetic north-south direction while grazing or resting. These images confirmed that herds of cattle tend to face in the north-south direction of Earth’s magnetic lines.
        Staring at cows may not equal the thrill of spotting celebrities in public or gawking at car accidents, but the researchers found nonetheless that our bovine friends display this strange sixth sense for direction.
        “Google Earth is perfect for this kind of research, because the animals are undisturbed by the observer,” says Sabine Begall, a zoologist at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany and coauthor on the study detailed in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
        Wind and time of day did not offer better explanations for why 8,510 cows in 308 locations around the world would mostly face north-south. Shadows suggested that many of the images were taken on cloudless, sunny days, so Begall’s group also factored in direct ground observations of cattle herds.
        A strong wind or sunlight on a cold day have typically proved more the “exceptions to the rule” that might cause large animals to face away from magnetic north-south.
        In Czech Republic, researchers also examined fresh beds left by resting cows in the snow and alignment was the same. Cows face a more magnetic north-south direction rather than geographic north-south, (Earth’s magnetic poles do not line up perfectly with the North and South Poles).
        Previous research has shown that animals such as birds, turtles and salmon migrate using a sense of magnetic direction, and small mammals such as rodents and one bat species also have a magnetic compass. Begall and fellow researchers became interested in seeing if larger mammals possessed a similar magnetic sense.
        “Our first idea was to study sleeping directions of humans (e.g. when doing camping), but there were too many constraints,” says Begall. “So, the idea arose to look for other large mammals like cows, and we were fascinated when we recognized that cows could be found on Google Earth satellite images.”
        Google Earth’s convenience also came with some downsides. The researchers could not distinguish between head and rear for some of the cows because of low image resolutions. However, the researchers suggest that the finding of large animals’ sense of magnetic direction could raise other agricultural questions, such as whether keeping cows in barns facing east-west might affect milk production.

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Q: Where do baby cows go for lunch?
A: To a calf-a tiria!