Animal magnetism
I just came across this science blog from Seed magazine on the tendency of sheep and cows to face the same way when grazing.
In a new paper, Sabine Begali from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany spied on aligned herds of cows and deer using satellite images from Google Earth.
The images revealed a striking behaviour that had been going unnoticed for millennia, right under the noses of herdsmen and hunters - their herds were lining up in a north-south line like a living compass needle. Influenced by a magnetic sense that has only just become apparent, their default point of reference is not the source of wind or the angle of the sun, but the Earth’s magnetic poles.
Cool! I spent a little bit of time on Google Earth trying to see if this was also true in New Zealand or if the cows and sheep faced the other way because they were in a different hemisphere (Just like they would be washed down a plughole the other way if you were to put them in the bath). But I couldn’t find a satellite picture of any animals. So no proof.
These ones seem to be facing different directions:
But if it is true does that means the cows all burp the same direction? Can we scientifically use this too our climate advantage somehow, maybe with large south facing extractor fans? Can we drive them away from polluting our rivers and waterways with large magnets? Or would it be easier just to farm more organically?
(Also I wonder if being magnetic makes it harder for farm animals to kiss each other?)
Photo credit: Kit Haselden Photography
August 27th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Strangely interesting, and sounds like a better Google earth use than finding crop circles.
Spelling error in the title of the post.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:27 am
thanks for pointing out the spelling mistake.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Interesting. In my experience sheep at least tend to mainly face downwind, not north/south. This shelters their head while grazing.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:43 am
A clever sheep (!) would graze with its head toward the wind and take advantage of the way the grass blades bend toward its mouth. A clever farmer would plant shelter trees so that there would be no winds bending grass this way or that, but would instead stand upright in an easy-to-nibble way. A very clever sheep would chose a clever farmer.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Sheep are much more clever than most people give them credit for actually.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Agreed Mr Dennis - the Perrindales I was sent out to muster on the steep slopes of D’Urville Island completely outwitted me at every turn. Mind you, they had a far more stimulating life than the average ‘paddock sheep’, with views of the straight, orca swimming by, DC3’s overhead dropping super, seals, penguins etc. Life inside a rye grass square must be very dull (unless you spend your time planning an escape)
August 27th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
(the DC3 wasn’t dropping seals and penguins - you knew that)
August 27th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
“(unless you spend your time planning an escape)”
Perhaps an especially clever sheep.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Oh, that was such an interesting story before you ruined it!
August 27th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Hmm.. and it’s strait, not straight! Sheep should live in dry, rocky mountainous areas, not on lush lowland paddocks. It’s interesting to watch them climb up onto any pile of spoil left in a flat paddock, especially the lambs. They want to be able to see the world! Baaa, raaam, uuuuuu!
August 27th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
You will find that the animals change their direction of grazing at night.
During the day they prefer to have their sides (their largest part) facing the sun, which leaves their heads pointing along a north/south axis.
August 27th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Looking at the group of cattle reminded me of the following statistics:
New Zealand total cattle population – 9 million.
India total cattle population – 200 million cows plus 90 million buffalo.
The amount of methane emitted by a cow for kilo depends on the quality of the genetic stock and the quality of the feed. We are tops in both.
So my guess is that NZ cattle emit about 1% of the methane emitted by cattle in India.
And our perennial pastures are carbon sinks. All those Europeans should be paying us Kyoto credits.
August 27th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
On another matter.
Cattle love wetlands– just like African elephants and buffalo.
So if we are going to fence them away from streams and estuaries (and I agree we should provided we realise we then have to manage the mangroves which the cows normally manage for us) then should we not encourage farmers to provide large dams and so on with big wet areas for the cows to play in – just as I provide dust baths for my chickens.
At present no one seems to care about the wellbeing of the cows.
August 27th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Personally, if I was negotiating for the Greens, I would have taken a billion dollars extra for public transport over 10 years and excluded pastoral grassland farming from ETS. And yes I would also call for a review of the inclusion of pastoral grassland farming exports from Kyoto - why should we be blamed for the global consumer appetite for our food?
August 28th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Owen - that’s a very interesting observation - cattle wallows! Who’ve thought it? Do they wallow in India, where they are free to roam? On an intensively farmed dairy unit with 2000 cows, how big would that wallow have to be?