"Cattle shown to align north-south"

[ymu]

Why did someone decided to do such a pointless piece of research anyway?

The question they're interested in is the ability to sense magnetic fields in larger animals (as I *think* has been proven for homing pigeons, by strapping magnets to their heads and watching them get lost - but they also use landmarks and sun etc to navigate).

In pondering this question, someone thought "Ooh, Google Earth will have lots of pictures of herds of animals. We can use that as a source of data to justify this bit of funding/keep that student busy - and maybe lead to something interesting." As one poster here has already used the GE search facility to locate some herds, I'd guess they used something like that to find the sample.

Allegedly, humans who sleep aligned north/south have a better sense of direction. I have no idea if this has been properly tested. If it's true, then whether it's the sleeping alignment that improves the sense of direction, or the sense of direction that leads to a preferred alignment, I have no idea.

 

[spring-peeper]

We have cows just up the road. They all seem to be facing in the same direction when they wander down the field, grazing and doing cow stuff. When they get to the end of the field, they turn around and all head in a different direction. When they are huddled under a tree to escape the heat, they are face whatever way gets them into the shade.

Also- when it is raining, they don't all lie/sit/scrunch(?) down. Sometimes when I cycle by and the majority are not standing, I figure it's because they are tired. We can go days or weeks without rain and they still can be not-upright.

I rarely see them in a blizzard (they are inside during the winter), but in violent storms they do huddle together. I always figured that was common sense.

 

[spring-peeper]

As with all studies of this nature, I wonder how much someone is being paid to investigate this.

 

[WouldBe]

Allegedly, humans who sleep aligned north/south have a better sense of direction. I have no idea if this has been properly tested. If it's true, then whether it's the sleeping alignment that improves the sense of direction, or the sense of direction that leads to a preferred alignment, I have no idea.

I always sleep better when aligned north-south.

 

[Vintage Paw]

My feet face NNW when in bed. I have a marvellous sense of direction (see previous post) but sleep like shit.

 

[spring-peeper]

I always sleep better when aligned north-south.

hmmm - I seeing somewhere that you should align yourself with with way the largest body of water runs (underground streams, rivers and the like). Something about the pull of the water on our bodies, yada yada.

At the time, one of the kids wasn't sleeping well, so we decided to check it out. Well, it was the only one whose bed was "cross-current" so to speak. So we changed it. It made a bit of difference but not much. Then hubby remembered that your head has to be upstream. So we rotated the bed. It must have worked, the kid started sleeping through the night.

hmmm - maybe the cows are aligning along with the groundwater

 

[perplexis]

Sure, it's peer reviewed in a reputable journal. But still, I'd like to see if the findings can be replicated.

Easy, just take a random sample of googlemaps images of cow pastures, map the axes of the magnetic poles onto the images, and test for significant deviation from N/S alignment in the several thousand samples. Then use a clever summary statistic to test whether there is significant deviation over the sample.
If you've got a few dozen hours to spare, you should be able to do it.

I think the point is that if the samples are truly random then it's possible to rule out the effects of:
wind, sun, topography, time of day, season
leaving not very much to account for non-random orientation.

But hey despite this, I still don't really see the point.

 

[perplexis]

As with all studies of this nature, I wonder how much someone is being paid to investigate this.

Probably not a great deal.
Academic salaries aren't that great. Their talents would be used to much more remunerative ends in banking, management consultancy or any number of financial or legal fields.

 

[danny la rouge]

But hey despite this, I still don't really see the point.

If cows and deer do have a magnetic sense, then it tells us somethng about large mammals we didn't know.

 

[WouldBe]

If cows and deer do have a magnetic sense, then it tells us somethng about large mammals we didn't know.

or had forgotten.

 

[stat]

this thread's reaction to Newton and his apple: "What, things fall down? What's the point of this research? How much is this guy getting paid "

etc etc for Copernicus and lots of other interesting discoveries

 

[danny la rouge]

this thread's reaction to Newton and his apple: "What, things fall down? What's the point of this research? How much is this guy getting paid "

Exactly.

 

[Aldebaran]

this thread's reaction to Newton and his apple: "What, things fall down? What's the point of this research? How much is this guy getting paid "

etc etc for Copernicus and lots of other interesting discoveries

What is interesting in cows aligning themselves in accordance with other cows when in a herd is that they act as a herd.

My theory on this would be that they
a) have the inborn survival instinct that makes them seek to avoid predators getting their scent
b) combine that whenever possible with seeking the most comfortable exposure for themselves to whatever elements of nature they face.

Which explains that when inside there is no "alignment" of the herd because
a) in a secure environment
b) sheltered

I can be wrong but can I get money for this now?

salaam.

 

[spring-peeper]

What is interesting in cows aligning themselves in accordance with other cows when in a herd is that they act as a herd.

My theory on this would be that they
a) have the inborn survival instinct that makes them seek to avoid predators getting their scent
b) combine that whenever possible with seeking the most comfortable exposure for themselves to whatever elements of nature they face.

Which explains that when inside there is no "alignment" of the herd because
a) in a secure environment
b) sheltered

I can be wrong but can I get money for this now?

salaam.

 

[weltweit]

I think the cow thing is baloney

But pigeons do navigate in a way that is not understood by man.

 

[stat]

What is interesting in cows aligning themselves in accordance with other cows when in a herd is that they act as a herd.

My theory on this would be that they
a) have the inborn survival instinct that makes them seek to avoid predators getting their scent
b) combine that whenever possible with seeking the most comfortable exposure for themselves to whatever elements of nature they face.

Which explains that when inside there is no "alignment" of the herd because
a) in a secure environment
b) sheltered

I can be wrong but can I get money for this now?

No of course you can't. You have a theory (great!) but you haven't tested it. The researchers in the article did test it: they looked at a whole load of data, fairly selected, and submitted it to analysis.

You did none of that, you just came up with an idea. You need to work out how you can prove/falsify your idea (aka hypothesis), then you need to test your idea to an extent that is rigorous enough for others to stake their reputations on. Then you can ask for money.

 

[fredfelt]

They are all going to moo moo land?

 

[ymu]

What is interesting in cows aligning themselves in accordance with other cows when in a herd is that they act as a herd.

My theory on this would be that they
a) have the inborn survival instinct that makes them seek to avoid predators getting their scent
b) combine that whenever possible with seeking the most comfortable exposure for themselves to whatever elements of nature they face.

Which explains that when inside there is no "alignment" of the herd because
a) in a secure environment
b) sheltered

I can be wrong but can I get money for this now?

salaam.

The herd provides safety from predators in a number of ways. It's harder for predators to pick out a target when they're surrounded by them - and they definitely can't work as effectively as a team. More obviously, it's only those who are on the outer edge of the herd who are vulnerable to attack. Position relative to the centre of the herd is a signifier of the social hierarchy - the outside positions are usually the younger males.

I guess if you're facing north or south, the sun isn't in your eyes. Could be useful for prey animals - but you'd also expect the individuals on the edges of the herd to be keeping an eye out in all directions, so they shouldn't align themselves except outwards - unless they play no role as a lookout and are mostly looking to be able to take off swiftly with the rest of them - in which case, alignment makes some kind of sense. The researchers couldn't tell which way the animals were facing in the images.

This is slightly relevant but really it's just an excuse to post the clip. For those who haven't seen the .

 

[dilute micro]

I don't know about the sun thing. I don't know about cows either but as a rule deer will second guess their sight and hearing but they never doubt their nose.

Facing north or south would put the sun in a cows eye for a good part of the day, early and late, since the cow's eyes are situated on the side of its head. What good is an internal compass if you're a cow? Did wild cows migrate?

I don't see why we shouldn't spend tons of cash on this.

 

[kyser_soze]

South facing cows 'ostracised' says Cow Rights watchdog...

 

[dilute micro]

Never let evidence get in the way of a good theory. The cow lying down was obviously giving birth. That way the calf would be facing north/south when it arrived.

 

[WouldBe]

South facing cows 'ostracised' says Cow Rights watchdog...

2 cows does not a herd make.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

What good is an internal compass if you're a cow? Did wild cows migrate?

I don't see why we shouldn't spend tons of cash on this.

Is it 'tons of cash'? Do you know what their budget was?

Whatever their budget (and may I just echo the sentiment that qualified scientific researchers of this kind could earn much more money analysing money markets if they wanted to – the skills are eminently transferable), I would have thought that your first question would now be a very good area for further research. Who knows what the answer and wider implications could be?

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I passed the cows in the fields today and they looked like they were lined up, but I've just checked a map and it was east/west.