« not much going on | Main | touche, mccain, touche »
August 26, 2008
cows face north...
haha.
"Magnetic alignment in grazing and resting cattle and deer":
"We demonstrate by means of simple, noninvasive methods (analysis of satellite images, field observations, and measuring “deer beds” in snow) that domestic cattle (n = 8,510 in 308 pastures) across the globe, and grazing and resting red and roe deer (n = 2,974 at 241 localities), align their body axes in roughly a north–south direction."
Annals of Improbable Research, where art thou?
Posted by jennj at August 26, 2008 09:44 PM
Clue-ments:
One farmer over here has reported that either her cows are abnormal or Earth's magnetic field is "broken" on her farm... ;-)
Posted by: TJ at August 27, 2008 02:38 PM
Hmm, I'm not sure of the significance of this or how it would be a useful adaptation. I remember reading a book about cowboys in the Old West and the anecdotal report that in snowstorms and such the cowboys would have to go out and turn the cattle around. They didn't even have the sense to turn their backs to the wind. Seems to me that if they can sense magnetic north they ought to have sense enough to keep their faces from freezing.
Posted by: Donna at August 28, 2008 02:10 AM