Remarkable cows

[Luddly Neddite]

BBC NEWS Science Nature Cattle shown to align north-south

Have you ever noticed that herds of grazing animals all face the same way?

Images from Google Earth have confirmed that cattle tend to align their bodies in a north-south direction.

Wild deer also display this behaviour - a phenomenon that has apparently gone unnoticed by herdsmen and hunters for thousands of years.

In the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences, scientists say the Earth's magnetic fields may influence the behaviour of these animals.

The Earth can be viewed as a huge magnet, with magnetic north and south situated close to the geographical poles.

Many species - including birds and salmon - are known to use the Earth's magnetic fields in migration, rather like a natural GPS.

A few studies have shown that some mammals - including bats - also use a "magnetic compass" to help their sense of direction.

Dr Sabine Begall, from the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, has mainly studied the magnetic sense of mole rats - African animals that live in underground tunnels.

"We were wondering if larger animals also have this magnetic sense," she told BBC News.

 

[Moonglow]

Maybe they want the sun at their sides?

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Actually, that may well be it. A friend wrote this to me earlier:

They control their body temperature by turning themselves so their hair is either catching or deflecting the breeze.
Nuthin to do with Earth's magnetism nor cosmic rays.
Scottish cattle are an exception because they just don't give a damn.

Polar bears do something similar. Their hair isn't white and is actually hollow tubes which they turn upward to catch the rays.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

That is just amazing! I knew my cattle were amazing but now I am really impressed! I am getting a baby calf in a few days. She is going to be bottle fed. She is only 4 months old. She is a red Angus.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

That is just amazing! I knew my cattle were amazing but now I am really impressed! I am getting a baby calf in a few days. She is going to be bottle fed. She is only 4 months old. She is a red Angus.

Congratulations!

I grew up on a ranch and, to this day, my 'mind's nose' can remember the difference between the horse barn and the cow barn. Both smells give me happy memories.

 

[pismoe]

cow related . --- cows with guns dana lyons - Bing Videos ---

 

[Moonglow]

That is just amazing! I knew my cattle were amazing but now I am really impressed! I am getting a baby calf in a few days. She is going to be bottle fed. She is only 4 months old. She is a red Angus.

Congratulations!

I grew up on a ranch and, to this day, my 'mind's nose' can remember the difference between the horse barn and the cow barn. Both smells give me happy memories.

A horse barn is a barn with horses in it, a cow barn is one with cows in it....We just called it the barn or a stable?

 

[hjmick]

Dogs are remarkable as well...

Dogs poop in alignment with Earth’s magnetic field, study finds

Dogs use the Earth’s magnetic field when they’re relieving themselves. Not only that, but canines choose to do so in a north-south axis, a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology says.

The study suggests that dogs are sensitive to small variations in Earth’s magnetic field. After examining 70 dogs — made up of 37 breeds — over two years, 1,893 defecations and 5,582 urinations, researchers found that under “calm magnetic field conditions,” dogs preferred to “excrete with the body being aligned along the north-south axis,” avoiding east-west altogether.

Dogs poop in alignment with Earth s magnetic field study finds The Rundown PBS NewsHour

 

[Aktas]

The cows give the milk, we have to give thanks.

 

[Moonglow]

The cows give the milk, we have to give thanks.

So do whales...