Jeff Lawson ([info]bovineone) wrote,
@ 2008-08-26 14:15:00
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Entry tags:cows

Cows have magnetic sense
Here's some interesting cow-related news that has just been discovered by using Google Earth images:


"Studying photographs of 8,510 cattle in 308 herds from around the world, zoologists ... found that two out of every three animals in the pictures were oriented in a direction roughly pointing to magnetic north."

"Cows are known to align their bodies facing uphill, facing into a strong wind to minimize heat loss or broadside to the sun on cold mornings to absorb heat, but the fact that the pictures were taken at many locations, at different times of day and in generally calm weather minimized the effect of environmental factors, the researchers said."

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-cows26-2008aug26,0,3764260.story



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[info]goulo
2008-08-27 06:34 am UTC (link)
Ah, but the authors themselves wrote "Our findings open horizons for the study of magnetoreception in general and are of potential significance for applied ethology (husbandry, animal welfare)." in the linked abstract at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/08/22/0803650105 :)

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