Cows seem to know which way is north

August 25, 2008 By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID , AP Science Writer

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In this April 17, 2008 file photo, cows are seen grazing on the farm near Rio, Wis. Do cows have a compass? Somehow, cattle seem to know how to find north and south, say researchers who studied satellite photos of thousands of cows around the world. Cattle that were grazing or resting tended to align their bodies in a north-south direction, a team of German and Czech researchers reports in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

(AP) -- Talk about animal magnetism, cows seem to have a built-in compass. No bull: Somehow, cattle seem to know how to find north and south, say researchers who studied satellite photos of thousands of cows around the world.

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• Mercury_01 - Aug 25, 2008
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  this can not be possible, therefore it is not real.
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• nilbud - Aug 25, 2008
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  What about sunrise and sunset, that'll give you east and west and no need for magnetics.
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• PPihkala - Aug 25, 2008
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  If cows prefer north-south orientation, does it mean that they are more happy in a cow-house that has the restrains aligned that way also? Or if that can not be arranged, maybe extra magnets should be used to turn the magnetic field to align with cow standing places?
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• wawadave - Aug 25, 2008
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  ever hear of cow magnets?
  many farmer stick them down the cows throats.
  
  so to discount cow magnets from haveing this effect on cows they will need to remove magnetized cows from the study groups....
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• scarhawk - Aug 25, 2008
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  "Compass termite" mounds orient north-south also, but it's to regulate temperature by controlling how the sun shines on them. Cows could be orienting themselves to catch the most sun to warm up, or the least to cool down. They'd only need to know magnetic north for directional orientation in returning home after traveling long distances to search for food. Domestic cows wouldn't need that skill because they never go anywhere, although it'd be interesting if they had it.
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• Eco_R1 - Aug 26, 2008
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  geewiz these researchers have a lot of time on their hands to waste their own time and money like that!!!.....this is like serious noble prize material, wow.
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• barakn - Aug 26, 2008
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  Well, wawadave, I once attended a teaching workshop on solar astronomy, and one of the presenters decided to have everyone create their own magnetometers. To save money he bought cow magnets. Those magnetometers wouldn't even align north-south, let alone allow one to measure slight changes in the field. I took several magnets home and after playing around with them for a few minutes, I discovered the reason why they failed: they were quadrupolar. The benefit to the cow is that the magnetic field strength drops off very quickly with distance, preventing the magnet from pulling metallic bits straight through the stomach lining from other compartments. It makes them useless for orienting in an external magnetic field though, and I seriously doubt they'd have any affect in this study.
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• ThomasS - Aug 26, 2008
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  I think Nilbud's suggestion of cows using the sun as their orientation is way more probable than some undemostrated magnetic-sense ability.. why do the researchers not think of that?
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• superhuman - Aug 26, 2008
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  ever hear of cow magnets?
  many farmer stick them down the cows throats.
  
  so to discount cow magnets from haveing this effect on cows they will need to remove magnetized cows from the study groups....

  
  
  At first I thought it was a joke, only after barkin replied and I googled it did I realize my ignorance! There are indeed magnetized cows!
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• Rick69 - Aug 26, 2008
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  When the earth's magnetic poles flip very soon, we will know for sure if it is magnetism that is the cause of this. Especially if two thirds of them start facing south!
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• slash - Aug 26, 2008
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  @facing and sun: that's what I thought at first, but if it was just that, the cows would change their preferred orientation over the course of the day.
  
  That doesn't mean it couldn't be related to the sun: for instance the grass might have a slightly preferred orientation derived from the path of the sun, and maybe the cows just have a somewhat easier time ripping off the blades when they're standing in a specific direction, relative to the grass.
  
  This might be unlikely, but not unreasonable, and doesn't require a magnet sense.
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• Glis - Aug 26, 2008
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  @scarhawk
  
  I'm with you on this one. Much more likely that they orient the broad sides of their body to the sun.
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• wawadave - Aug 30, 2008
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  barakn
  it was intended as humor.
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