COWS ARE COOL: LOVE ‘EM!
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.
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.
Q: Where do baby cows go for lunch?
A: To a calf-a tiria!
A: To a calf-a tiria!