attle Spontaneously Lining North-South Direction. Could It Be a Prove to Detect Inner Magnetic Sense? by Milota Sidorova

Magnetic orientation within several bird's species has been proved long time ago. It's generally known that droves of migrating swallows use their own sensors to find the right direction traveling north-south and back. Kind of a sensor behavior has been detected even among insect, literally honey bees and termites. Their hive kingdoms have their steepest side always north orientated. This phenomena is declared in every survival handbook.

The magnetic sense within smaller non-mammals has been detected in more or less developed level.

However, recent study, coming out German-Czech research team may prove that even cattle has kind of magnetic sense within their bodies. Hynek Burda along with Sabine Begall of faculty of biology at the University of Duisburg-Essen have opened horizons for the study of magnetoreception in general.

The idea of the research was simple. Surprisingly, not direct measurement, but one of the world's most popular websites helped the international team. Aerial scenes from on-line Google Earth Satellite maps have been monitoring 8,510 cattle in all over 308 pastures. According the findings almost 70 percent of animals during grazing or resting lined their bodies with north-south direction. North-south direction dominated regardless of what continent the cattle were on.

Defining this observation as a key evidence of magnetic sense would be surely at least not sufficient.
There's been more factors to be considered. At first – the weather conditions. Cattle tended to face the winds and lined their body axises to catch maximum of sun heat during the cold days.
However, the experiment has taken part during mostly spring and summer months, north-south direction could be a result of an opposite situation. Cattle bodily temperature tends to be higher than human and dressed in the thick leather they may simply look for the most cooling comfortable position, that is assured by north lining.

If those factors could be excluded, still would be the most important finding withing higher mammals.
Naturally based entirely on correlations, it need more to prove the magnetic sense.
Josheph L. Kirschvink of the California Institute of Technology also discussed whether the fenced did impact cattle bodily orientation.

The research also arises question whether humans show such a spontaneous behavior as well.
However also it would be more difficult to prove our magnetic sense. Apart from unconscious instinct, north is traditionally considered as the most healthy side to point the head during the sleep.
Some of the theories say sleeping south could messed up our apparatus, so even the sleep wouldn't be that refreshing the very next morning. The second optimal side is supposed to be eastern side, based on Earth's movement and sunrise. We can compare it with taking positions in high speed train. Most of people will logically sit in the forward direction of the train to avoid travel sickness.

However, back to cows, the research will be continuing on deer, sheeps, goats and wild boars to reduce, either crashing down the hypothesis whether higher mammals have ability to sense magnetic field, like birds and insect do.

by Milota Sidorova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.<br><br><font size=2>These news are original content from young talents around the world and are selected for you by Chris Cantell.</font><br>

edited by Beata Biskova