CBS: Study: Dogs Relieve Themselves In-Line With Earth’s Magnetic Field

[JMS]

Which would seem to open up new opportunities in the realistate investment market if this truism remains true for humans.

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/01/04/study-dogs-relieve-themselves-in-line-with-earths-magnetic-field/

 

Study: Dogs Relieve Themselves In-Line With Earth’s Magnetic Field

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Dogs are quite particular about where they choose to relieve themselves — not only do they defecate in direction with the north-south axis, but they also are sensitive to slight changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology finds that a wide range of canines preferred to “excrete with the body being aligned along the north-south axis” under “calm magnetic field conditions.” The nearly 37 breeds of dogs studied were found to completely avoid urination or defecation along an east-west direction.

The study is the first time that magnetic sensitivity was proven in dogs, although previous research has shown that many mammals “spontaneously align their body axis” with Earth’s magnetic field in a diverse range of behavioral contexts.

Examination of 70 dogs over two years – including 1,893 defecations and 5,582 urinations – revealed that dogs who were not leashed or influenced in movement were naturally inclined to relieve themselves in “axial orientation” with the earth’s magnetic field.

The study did not detail exactly why this phenomenon occurs: “It is still enigmatic why the dogs do align at all, whether they do it “consciously” (i.e., whether the magnetic field is sensorial perceived (the dogs “see”, “hear” or “smell” the compass direction or perceive it as a haptic stimulus) or whether its reception is controlled on the vegetative level (they “feel better/more comfortable or worse/less comfortable” in a certain direction).”

Although dogs are often influenced by their owner’s behavior to choose a spot of relief, the researchers note that the study was “truly blind,” and that observers were not biased in their choice of geomagnetic field variations.

The dogs were found to align themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field regardless of the time of day and other variations in weather.

The researchers note that the study may “open new horizons for biomagnetic research,” specifically, that the Earth’s magnetic field may have greater impact in behavioral response from organisms than considered before.

 

 

 

 

[Riggo-toni]

I saw this article earlier on Google. Interesting stuff.

[Bang]

I fail to see the value in knowing this.

~Bang

[China]

Posted in the Random funny article thread last week.

[Riggo-toni]

I fail to see the value in knowing this.

~Bang

You just had to piss all over this research, didn't you....

[Bang]

You just had to piss all over this research, didn't you....

these are the scientists who end up shaking their fist at the world. "They called me a fool for studying dog pooping habits! i will show them who the fools are! Muhahahahahaha!"

..while he bags groceries.

Or more accurately,, Shoot! we need to get our funding next year! Whoever walks the dog write down which direction he faces when he takes a crap. We'll call it a study or something.

~Plop

[JMS]

these are the scientists who end up shaking their fist at the world. "They called me a fool for studying dog pooping habits! i will show them who the fools are! Muhahahahahaha!"

..while he bags groceries.

Or more accurately,, Shoot! we need to get our funding next year! Whoever walks the dog write down which direction he faces when he takes a crap. We'll call it a study or something.

~Plop

 

You are so short sighted sir...   Envision this...  Bang and 8 explorers are lost in south America searching for the headwaters of the amazon.   Known is the direction on a map to a local village but unknown is which way to walk.    Even the native American Indians brought on as guides are stumped.  It seems all is lost.  Half the party is beginning to listen to Sarge and MassSkinsfan suggestions they start eating the smallest and slowest of your companions.   BigMikes future looks dim.   You cleverly decide on a vector by noticing the nearby dog relieving himself.   Party saved.   You are worshiped as a orienteering god at the annual royal British scientific society gathering.   BigMike becomes your personal boy Friday in gratitude.   Your career is made.   You write a book which becomes a best seller and leads you to financial independence.   You are consulted on all manor of navigational problems.   NASA takes your suggestion to include labradoodles on the Mars landing mission!!   For the next fifty years you recount how you saved the Amazon expedition over and over again at guest lecturing spots and family gatherings.  In your stories you are always careful to acknowledge JMS for his timely and helpful posts on extreme skins without who's assistance you would never have been able to save your companions so long ago in the Amazon.....

 

Bang I'm frankly ashamed of you...   The cumpas was the 8th most important invention in the history of the world... Yet you can't grasp the importance of this discovery?   This discovery which puts the power of the cumpas literally at the fingertips.. (ewww) of millions maybe billions people around the world.

 

 

CUMPAS 8th most Important discovery in the world...  4th most important by the Chinese.

Ancient mariners navigated by the stars, but that method didn't work during the day or on cloudy nights, and so it was unsafe to voyage far from land.

The Chinese invented the first compass sometime between the 9th and 11th century; it was made of lodestone, a naturally-magnetized iron ore, the attractive properties of which they had been studying for centuries. (Pictured is a model of an ancient Chinese compass from the Han Dynasty; it is a south-indicating ladle, or sinan, made of polished lodestone.) Soon after, the technology passed to Europeans and Arabs through nautical contact. The compass enabled mariners to navigate safely far from land, increasing sea trade and contributing to the Age of Discovery.

 

http://www.livescience.com/33749-top-10-inventions-changed-world.html