Cattle/other animals shown to align north-south

Cattle shown to align north-south

news.bbc.co.uk

The researchers surveyed Google Earth images of 8,510 grazing and resting cattle in 308 pasture plains across the globe.

"Sometimes it took hours and hours to find some pictures with good resolution," said Dr Begall.

The scientists were unable to distinguish between the head and rear of the cattle, but could tell that the animals tended to face either north or south.

The researchers also recorded the body positions of 2,974 wild deer in 277 locations across the Czech Republic.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 25-8-2008 by baseball101]

I don't know if this really belongs here...I just thought it was a very interesting article. It's quite strange how the animals do this....what do you think of it?

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

i've been keeping a mental track of my own sleeping/resting position since the 1970s.
generally myself and all my local relatives favor a north-south alignment..

i've often wondered why?
Is it because the Earth rotates towards the east?
Is it because we humans (along with many mammals & animals) have magnitite in our brains and we tend to align ourselves along a magnetic grid


interesting but limited topic,

reply to post by St Udio


very interesting they said in the article it's probably because of the grid but i have no idea how they could have such a sense to do that

reply to post by baseball101


ARGH. This is another example of poor journalism.
Let's use Occam's razor for a moment.
Cattle (and deer) align themselves north-south. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. A predator is less likely to attack with the sun in their eyes. Probabistically, predatory strikes are more likely to happen from the west or east. Therefore, prey will do a better monitoring job if they align themselves at right angles to the west or east. They can see better and they can escape better.
Cattle and deer do this because they are prey. You won't find this behaviour in predators.
As for Scotland (supposedly the effect isn't noticed there), answer this - what predators are there in Scotland?
Occam's razor.
Magnetic fields? Next thing is some journalist reporting that cows are the culprits behind crop circles.

Originally posted by St Udio
i've been keeping a mental track of my own sleeping/resting position since the 1970s.
generally myself and all my local relatives favor a north-south alignment..

i've often wondered why?
Is it because the Earth rotates towards the east?
Is it because we humans (along with many mammals & animals) have magnitite in our brains and we tend to align ourselves along a magnetic grid


interesting but limited topic,

It's interesting you should say that. I too seem to sleep alot better when My head is pointing north and my feet are facing south. Very interesting.

I have noticed that cows tend to stand the same direction but never really thought much of it. I also noticed like it said in the article that cows tend to lay down before its going to rain. I actually did my own study on that once when I was younger. There was a couple of farms close to where I lived. Both had cows. I would always watch and 7or 8 times out of ten when they were all laying down it rained later that day.

Very Very interesting

reply to post by baseball101



Maybe it's as simple as if they are not facing east or west then they are not looking into the sun.

Apparently they did not consider sloping terrain important. I never saw cattle on a slope standing with their heads up or downslope, always across.

Well maybe not always, always. But most of the time.

Their findings might be skewed by this omission.

[edit on 26-8-2008 by Phage]

reply to post by St Udio

I have read that it is best to sleep with your head facing north and feet south because energy flows north to south. Not sure if it's true or not, but it is interesting and since reading this I make sure to sleep that way.

A Healthy Bedroom
www.spaceandtime.com...

I'm giving this a bump because it's just so cool.

When I think of all the cow pastures I pass in my area, I know this is totally true. Same thing with the deer in my back yard. Amazing that no one has really ever noticed it before.

I wonder if something like the Farmer's Almanac or another nature journal like it may have documented it but science is just now catching up?

I'm sooo going to rearrange my bedroom.

edit to add: ...but it's not breaking alternative news!

[edit on 26/8/2008 by kosmicjack]

reply to post by stealthsurfer


That's not true.

This is not a one-line reply

Very interesting indeed. I was just thinking about the last 3 places I lived in. Every single time I slept with my head to the North and my feet to the South.

Out of great intrigue, since this has been brought up, I went on to google maps to look up some of my other homes where my memory is shady about the orientation of the home I lived in. I have found that in just about every single home I can remember that I have lived in, I slept in a North/south orientation.

There are a few homes where I didn't but only for part of the time I lived there. I was a compulsive "room rearranger", especially as a teen, and at some points I didn't sleep in that orientation. From what I can remember, the ending layout of my room before moving out ended in a North/South orientation of my bed. Maybe that's why I was always rearranging my room.

This is a very strange thing!!! I think everyone should retrace where they've lived and find out the orientation they slept in.

Star and flag!

[edit on 26-8-2008 by nunya13]

reply to post by nunya13


very interesting i can't believe that almost everyone who has posted on here has stated that they slept north and south ..... intriguing maybe it is possible that almost all people sleep that way naturally ........ and most animals stand the same unless on a hill or other reasons

reply to post by Flory


very good point but if you look at one of the pics in the article it shows deer beds in a line facing north and south in the woods .... where there's shade.

So if most folks on here sleep north south, then you guys must have some interesting looking bedrooms to have your beds aligned along a north-south axis no matter what the layout of the room is. I picture lots of headboards in corners rather than along the flat surface of a wall.

If you look at the Rosicrucian Manual and the Principles for Home& business (both public books) they also mention this from way back in the 20's


I've been sleeping that way for years ever since I saw that recommendation.

reply to post by St Udio

interesting but limited topic,

Agreed.

We can talk about this 'till the cows come home. By the way they'll be coming from the north when they return home!!

I must also state I too sleep head north feet south. Maybe we all do!!!

Scary thought.

Becker

I went out to watch my animals for a while. I also made a trip to town and watched cattle along the way. I basically saw animals facing all four major directions and points in between. Some where grazing and some lying down.

Many times the animals will be aligned as they tend to move as a herd while grazing and slowly walking.

I am going to inspect more animals near dark for a while and see if bedding down for the night tends to fit the theory.

Were they sleeping standing up too?



Did they find any "tippers" hiding along tree lines?

Cows are social animals

Social Indeed. Social enough to emulate other cows habits?

I grew up in East texas. Lots of cows. They are always fed as the sun rises in the morning. Here's a thought, maybe they're facing the gate that the food is coming from in the morning? Huh? It might be coincidence but every cow pasture I've been in had a gate to the north or south. Of course, thats just what I can remember off the top of my head......Who Knows.....

-Dev

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd


Your point about the gate rings true with me. Sometimes all of ours will lie down facing the gate watching for that person with food show up.

edit: sp

[edit on 8/26/2008 by roadgravel]