Scientists Discover Cows Point North

Dr Sabine Begall and colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen have discovered that cows tend to point north. The researchers studied deer in the Czech Republic and looked at thousands of images of cattle on Google Earth. The animals tended to face north when eating or resting. "We conclude that the magnetic field is the only common and most likely factor responsible for the observed alignment," the scientists wrote in an article. I guess cows will become the must-have item for long-distance hikers now. Having an edible compass would come in handy if you get lost.

Comments

You too can be an armchair scientist.

[suso]

Is it possible? Yes. But I wonder how many factors they really looked into before coming to this conclusion. What about how cows perceive things like the locations of houses, barns and roads. Are a lot of farms on north/south roads or are fields on the south side of the farm so the cows are facing towards the barn or house? I don't know, but from reading the article, it doesn't sound like they looked into much other than making conclusions from Google Earth. What about the fact that aeriel photography is done during certain times of the day or during certain seasons. Surely those have an effect on cows. Poor science in my opinion. And the sad thing is that an article like this only causes people to start propogating facts that might be wrong. Not that what direction cows face is a big deal, but its common enough that it only propogates stupidity.

And why use Google Earth? Indiana (I know cows are sacred in India) seems like a prime candidate for studying cows from space. In 2005 Indiana University released a complete set of aerial photos of the whole state that had as high as 6" per pixel resolution. Which is better than Google Earth.

Besides that, how many good research scientists are going to promote their work by posting a link to Slashdot to an article in a newspaper.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[baldass_newbie]

They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes.
Not everything requires 'scientific' conjecture (which is, I think, your point.)

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[bugnuts]

They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes.

Next, these researchers will discover a bizarre new breed of Australian cows that like to point south.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[suso]

Yes, but I also just wanted to be the first to call this finding bullshit. ;-)

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[splug]

Then they wouldn't constantly be pointing north. Only at the poles do you see a drastic north to south disparity of the sun. Otherwise the sun goes east to west most of the time. Any place this statement would be true you would have cowsicle and I think they would be pointing when the silly person who tried to raise cows in an arctic environment gave up.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Anonymous Coward]

> In 2005 Indiana University released a complete set of aerial photos of the whole state that had as high as 6" per pixel resolution. Which is better than Google Earth.

No it's not. Google uses that data where it's available (look at the image credits) http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=40.216869,-86.131615&spn=0.000822,0.001086&z=20

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Colonel Korn]

They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes.
Not everything requires 'scientific' conjecture (which is, I think, your point.)

Mod parent up to +5.

In the northern hemisphere the sun is to the south.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting that the cow in the picture is clearly pointing west. :=)

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Trails]

You've missed the point of the article, and this is clearly due to the Earth's magnetic field.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Anonymous Coward]

If it is truly a result of magnetic field, then they'd be able to show it by showing a correlation to the magnetic declination.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Bob-taro]

I don't know, but from reading the article, it doesn't sound like they looked into much other than making conclusions from Google Earth. What about the fact that aeriel photography is done during certain times of the day or during certain seasons. Surely those have an effect on cows.

FTA:

Huge variations in the wind direction and sunlight in the areas where the beasts were found meant that the scientists were able to rule out those factors as being responsible for the direction they were facing.

"We conclude that the magnetic field is the only common and most likely factor responsible for the observed alignment," the scientists wrote in an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

I get your point, but they did at least consider some other possibilities.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jemtallon]

That could be tested by observing cows in the southern hemisphere and seeing whether they face south instead. I wonder if the study went that far.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[SoCalChris]

I live in Montana, and there's plenty of cattle up here.

There was an article in the paper last winter about ranchers having to roam their pastures at night looking for cattle giving birth (They give birth in the middle of winter). The calves would immediately need to be taken to a barn, otherwise they would quickly freeze in the -20 to -30 temperatures we frequently get during winter nights.

Adult cows are very hardy though, and survive just fine in extreme cold, although they do tend to huddle together to block the wind and conserve each others heat.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Thelasko]

I believe a cow's eyes are on the sides of their head. Not at the front of their head, like ours. Therefore, the sun would be in their right eye in the morning, and the left eye in the afternoon.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Paradise Pete]

I don't see why you would think that considering sunlight is not a "scientific" conjecture, but anyway, from TFA:

.

Huge variations in the wind direction and sunlight in the areas where the beasts were found meant that the scientists were able to rule out those factors as being responsible for the direction they were facing.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Austerity Empowers]

Based on the position of the international date line, I predict tomorrow will be a shitty day.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[twoallbeefpatties]

Huge variations in the wind direction and sunlight in the areas where the beasts were found meant that the scientists were able to rule out those factors as being responsible for the direction they were facing.

Thanks for playing our game! Please accept this consolation prize - RTFA: The Home Game! Now you can play RTFA right from the comfort of your own television set!

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jacquesm]

not to mention goats in 4 varieties of leg length, uphill goats, downhill goats, leftfacing goats and rightfacing goats. Legs on the upper slope will be shorter.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jacquesm]

Here in NL the cows have designer sunglasses and cell phones.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jacquesm]

Well, I have this stash of about 400 neodymium magnets, I'm going to have lots of fun burrying them in the local farmers fields in exciting patterns.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[ArhcAngel]

So you were hiding your FIRST POST inside of your FIRST to call BS POST!

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Anonymous Coward]

A well-known scientist once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant cow." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the cow standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's cows all the way down!"

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[G-forze]

Or maybe satellites take images at noon when the lighting is best because the sun happens to be at its highest (and in the south)?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Geoffrey.landis]

Then they wouldn't constantly be pointing north. Only at the poles do you see a drastic north to south disparity of the sun.

Exactly to the contrary. Outside the polar regions, a cow facing due north, or due south, will never have the sun directly in front of them.

There's no need to invoke magnetism.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jeepee]

And is the turds twisting CCW in Northern Hemispere and CW
in Southern Hemisphere due to the coriolis effect ?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[mongoose(!no)]

When you mate them with North American cows, do they point east or west? I'm inclined to say there are a million other reasons for cows to point north, the sun being just one of them.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[drodal]

That was my point exactly, do the cows in the southern hemisphere look south. How about different times of day/season. Frankly I think that the coriolis effect has more to do with this than magnetic north. :P

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[uniquename72]

How is this not labeled redundant? This is exactly what baldass and bignuts already said.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[j00r0m4nc3r]

Whoosh! I'm pretty sure that was the entire crux of his one sentence, which you expanded into three paragraphs.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[alexj33]

The bullchips also swirl in the other direction.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Dannkape]

I was thinking the same thing when reading this over at BBC last night. Especially as they nowhere seem to mention watching at least a single field of cows over a full day to see if they followed the sun or not. (And get some Australian farmer to check the direction of their cows as well...)

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[QuantumPion]

Maybe the cows know global warming is an imminent danger, and are trying to avert the situation by providing a net thrust on the Earth to push us into a higher orbit.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[sm62704]

I saw this in New Scientist this morning. That FA said the cows faced magnetic north. So the sun has nothing to do with it.

It mentioned birds' ability to discern direction via magnetism, and conjecture that the cows developed this as well by evolving in a habitat without good landmarks (e.g. a prairie).

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[HTH NE1]

How about learned patterns of sunlight corresponding to landmarks? Or did they also try blinding the cows?

Or sealing them inside a large white dome with no discernible edges so that it was all white to infinity?

And did they ask for guns? lots of guns?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[oldhack]

OMG Diabolical!!

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[HTH NE1]

Well, I have this stash of about 400 neodymium magnets, I'm going to have lots of fun burrying them in the local farmers fields in exciting patterns.

Try to get them to spell out "eat mor chiken".

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[hedwards]

I don't think that you can conclude that. It seems really odd to me that if it were just a reaction to the sun, that they'd be facing north, rather than directly away from the sun.

Pointing directly north is going to have the sun never directly in front of the cow, but it's not going to minimize the light either.

Really, without some evidence that cows have an awareness of time, this sort of hypothesis is no better than the one it claims to refute.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[liam193]

I believe your right. It appears that the first was, in fact, a shorten version of the longer post. Both conveyed the same concept and nearly all details could be implied from the original statement.

Furthermore, I believe it should be pointed out that the first post was only a single sentence in length; however, the second post was a full three paragraphs of text.

I just wrote this to point out that your statement was indeed correct and appeared too short so I figured I should expand on it. Perhaps the second poster will understand a three paragraph explanation of your statement.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[speedingant]

What happens when they graze at the north pole..? Do they stand up on end?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Anonymous Coward]

Jokes are like deadlines...

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[s4ck]

baldass and bignuts.. lolz..

what was the comment again?

..

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[SYSS Mouse]

You mean aerial photograph?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[UltraAyla]

Good point. I think you would be correct except for the fact that most aerial imagery is taken between the hours of 10am and 2pm (or so - sun time, not DST) in order to have consistency and minimize problems related to shadows and glare. These cows, therefore, might not be pointing at North, but might be a little bit off of it. However, with these researchers only using Google Earth imagery, cows pointing off North at 11am might still be within their margin of error for "north."

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Killjoy_NL]

I'm dutch and I can agree on this post :)

Jacquesm, are you REALLY dutch??

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[devotedlhasa]

clearly pointing to magnetic West...

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[CambodiaSam]

As funny as the comment is, it's probably the perfect way to scientifically test the theory. You can put magnets on one field and not another. Move the herd back and forth under usual circumstances (like for grazing) and track them. If they orient differently, THEN you can prove something.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[UltraAyla]

Huge variations in sunlight could simply be due to the curvature of the Earth. Without further explanation of what they considered "sunlight variation," (localized or global?) you can't rule out that hypothesis.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Cumstien]

I'm still trying to get my cow to float on the surface of a small dish of water. Am I the only one having problems with this?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[corbettw]

How about learned patterns of sunlight corresponding to landmarks?

They looked at cows in widely disparate geographic locations, and at different times of the day. How in the world could there be similar patterns of sunlight for the cows to grow accustomed to under those variables?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[oni]

I came here to say exactly this. If your hypothesis is correct, we should expect to see the cows turning slightly throughout the day (except possibly in early morning and late evening when the light level is low enough to not bother them).

However, because these researchers used google Earth, and the photos taken with google earth tend to be right around noonday, the researchers wouldn't have noticed the cows turning.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[fbjon]

Speaking of correlation, who the hell tagged this story with "correlationisnotcausation"? As if the magnetic field would somehow align itself with the cows.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[sliverstorm]

Not to mention a lot of grazing land is in hilly/mountainous areas, and the northern face of a mountain is understood to be the harsher face (at least in the northern hemisphere, where most cows are), which means less grazing land on the north face as opposed to south. This in turn could mean cows would be more likely to be on the southern face. So, if they tend to face north, who's to say they aren't opting to stand facing uphill? This is also all conjecture, but the point is there's more than 1 possible reasonable conclusion. Guesswork != science

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Thelasko]

Or maybe satellites take images at noon when the lighting is best because the sun happens to be at its highest (and in the south)?

Yeah, I was thinking along those lines as well. Think about a cow's day (non-dairy).

8am wake up
8:04am exit barn
8:05-12:30pm graze in a direction away from the barn
12:31pm turn around
12:32pm graze towards the barn.
5pm go back into barn.

The direction they are facing depends on what time of day the picture is taken. It also might depend on what direction the barn door is facing, or how the pasture is fenced in.

Note: I'm not a farmer, I'm not very knowledgeable about bovine behavior, and/or schedule keeping.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Lord Apathy]

If it is truly a result of magnetic field, then they'd be able to show it by showing a correlation to the magnetic declination

Or they could just wait for the poles to reverse then the cow should all roll over on their backs during the shift. The greatest cow tipping on the planet.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[couchslug]

"Poor science in my opinion."

There goes my dream of food, clothing, sex, and navigational assistance from the same creature...

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[sik0fewl]

How about the sun *always* being in the South? I think that fits "similar patterns of sunlight". "Widely disparate geographical locations" all in the northern hemisphere?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[HTH NE1]

They looked at cows in widely disparate geographic locations, and at different times of the day.

Were they flying the cows to these locations or just using cows native to those locations?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jellomizer]

That would have been my conclusion. The simplest answer is usually the scientifically correct one.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Lobster Quadrille]

Wow. I've never seen a post so deserving of a 'redundant' mod.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[rthille]

Turtles. At least that's the store in Hawkings 'A Brief History of Time'.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[chefmonkey]

I believe your right.

You believe his right to do what?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Free the Cowards]

The alternative to causation is not only reverse causation. Correlation could be due to causation in either direction, but also due to a shared cause or even total coincidence.

For example, the building I live in is lined up north/south. Is this due to the Earth's magnetic field? No, it's because it's built on a north/south road.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[MightyYar]

who the hell tagged this story with "correlationisnotcausation"?

Clearly, they were referring to the Google practice of using cows to orient their aerial photographs northward.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[roman_mir]

Does it often happen to you, missing the main point of what others say?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[sir fer]

you sir resemble the southern end of north-facing cow

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Thelasko]

Be careful how you read this.

Huge variations in the wind direction and sunlight in the areas where the beasts were found

!=

Huge variations in the wind direction and sunlight at the moment when the beasts were found

The first one could mean the scientist ruled out the amount of sunlight the area gets on average. (Oslo gets less sun than Palermo)

The second one means they took the pictures at various times in the day.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[kimvette]

RTFA? Are you nuts? This is slashdot. Unlike fark, we do not have to RTFA in order to come up with snarky comments! All one has to do is skim a thread to see all the GNAA and goatse and scat-eating posts to prove that claim.

You underestimate the length to which we slashdotters will go to maintain our reputation of being lazy! Look at me. I have not RTFA yet and I'm procrastinating reading the fine article by making this post.

Again, as further proof that slashdotters are lazy and will not RTFA I will continue this diatribe.

It's not that we lack comprehension skills, nor is it that we don't understand the basic concept of science and learning, it is just that the vast majority of us simply don't care and would rather talk out of our asses and belittle the editors and other posters rather than read and learn for ourselves. We prefer our soundbites and summaries (if we could even be bothered to read the 'fine' summaries, let alone the articles) to detailed articles, and we prefer that a few of you who give a damn to predigest the knowledge and regurgitate it for us. We prefer that someone mention that animals are thought to use their own internal magnets made of crystals of magnetite, and that it is unknown at this time whether cows possess this anatomical feature. Why, I'd have to read the entire "fine" article in order to learn that the biologists investigating this don't yet know.

Now obviously I read the article, but you know, the vast majority here couldn't be bothered.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[penguin_dance]

Isn't it normal for herd animals to face into the wind so they can smell any preditor in the area? That could be another reason.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Trogre]

Beware cows with guns.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Xemu]

They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes.

As most glider pilots can tell you, cows have their backs against the wind. We use them for wind cues during emergency landings.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[lgw]

In America, if an adult cow is grazing, it's almost certainly a dairy cow. Steers are shipped to feedlots early in life to be corn-fed (cows still can't really digest corn well, and it would kill them in about a year and a half, but they're slaughtered first).

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jacquesm]

hilarious ;)

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[gregbot9000]

All cows have a magnet in their belly, it is a little known fact outside of ranching, but true. It is fed to them by farmers to collect any pieces of iron that might be left in fields from wire and machines. It may be that these are most comfortable to the cow when facing north.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_magnet

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Maelwryth]

"They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes."

Yes, it does seem to draw a conclusion from a remarkable lack of information.

Let me see;
"Researchers discovered that cattle have a good sense of direction and tend to point in a northerly direction." And yet, later it says "Although, in many cases, the images were not clear enough to determine which way the cattle were facing they were aligned on a north/south axis."

They also only studied cows from "Britain, Ireland, India and the USA" which are all in the northern hemisphere. Perhaps they do only like the sun on their backs.

The article states,"Huge variations in the wind direction and sunlight in the areas where the beasts were found meant that the scientists were able to rule out those factors as being responsible for the direction they were facing." and yet its source is Google Earth where to see the cows you cannot have cloud cover and the only way to tell wind direction would be to...I don't know....watch the wave patterns on water? Or maybe find when each image was taken and check the wind direction for the day.

From the face of it, it sounds like poor science to me. A link to the paper wouldn't be to much to ask for, would it?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jacquesm]

Or feed one cow a batch of neos and watch the others cowtow (pun intended) to it.

Instant religion :)

(no, do not feed neos to anything because they tend to stick together in the digestive tract and will kill that particular organism, this was a *joke*, it may not be in good taste but it was a joke nonetheless).

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[ecavalli]

True, but like all mammals with eyes situated to the sides of their heads, a cow's visual focus remains roughly straight ahead. They merely have a larger peripheral vision (and less ability to accurately judge distance) than, say, us humans.

If their eyes allowed for simultaneous focus in two separate directions you'd see a lot more cows with headaches, vomiting up four stomachs worth of cud.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jacquesm]

ja hoor, wat dacht jij dan ?

j.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[ecavalli]

Stupid 'Enter' Button!

"less ability to accurately judge distance" should actually read "less ability to accurately judge distance in three dimensions, that is, depth perception"

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[microbox]

They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes. Not everything requires 'scientific' conjecture (which is, I think, your point.)

It's well known that animals can sense magnetic fields, and have specific iron compounds in their bodies for that purpose. While your point stands - it seems entirely reasonable that cows sense the magnetic field of the earth. This could be tested by taping magnets to cows heads.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[ecavalli]

You know you spend too much time on the 'net when "exciting patterns" automatically translates to "pornography" in your head.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Reziac]

And the new calves can freeze mainly because (like all mammals) they're born wet, and thanks to the chinooks the ground can also be wet. Once they've dried off and are standing and drinking good, they can go back outside. As you say, cattle are VERY hardy. (Being close cousins of bison, who thrive in the coldest parts of the continent, often calve in late winter, and are outdoors for the duration.)

BTW where 'zactly are you? I grew up in Montana (Great Falls), tho I'm presently in SoCal.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you look at the Abstract of the published article in PNAS http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/08/22/0803650105.abstract

The did consider light and wind conditions

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jibstance]

I believe that one.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[nixkuroi]

Or that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west and that cows are maximizing their exposure to the direction of the sun by standing so the widest angle of them is directly perpendicular to the location of the sun at the east or west.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[SoCalChris]

I'm halfway between Livingston & Gardiner. I couldn't wait to get out of So Cal, and was lucky enough to get a good job up here.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[das_magpie]

I thought the exact same thing, I notice all the cows around here pointing south!

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Reziac]

Whoa, down in the wind tunnel :) I used to live in the Bozeman/Belgrade area myself.

Congrats on finding a good job, and on getting out of California... used to be okay here, but has gone completely nuts. Trying to get moved back north myself... and the cows are pointing the way ;)

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Televiper2000]

If you look at a diagram of a Sundial. Between the hours of 10am and 3pm there is about 125 degrees of variation in the sun's position. That's a pretty big margin of error. Somehow I don't believe they are that worried about shadow and glare in rural areas. Most cows live in rural areas. If you look at rural areas like North Western Ontario you'll find the odd group of cars with long shadows.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Bloodoflethe]

I would like to think if the cow could focus simultaneously in different directions, the cow would simply have two visual fields. Who said that visual fields *have* to be processed as one? The purpose of single field processing is for depth perception.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[ecavalli]

Yes, but it's a cow -- not exactly the pinnacle of cerebral complexity.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Brad1138]

Try to get them to spell out "eat mor chiken".

I just have to say, I laughed so hard reading that my chest hurts, thanks.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[nonewmsgs]

the corrolis effect?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[DarthJohn]

I believe your right.

You believe his right to do what?

He's not so sure about his left.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Rastan_B2]

I honestly thought you were completely taking the piss and the humour was in a fake wiki article... but no! Genuine article about why we feed cattle magnets so that metal bits don't go through their guts! My interesting tidbit for the day, plus its the 2nd time in a month I had a valid reason to read about a bezoar. Thanks!

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[ILuvRamen]

you're close. As a Wisconsin resident, I'd say at least 50% of all people in Wisconsin know why cows face the way they do. Okay, if they're laying down, it means they're tired. If they're laying down in a circle, shit is gonna go down like tornados and hail and stuff cuz they go in a circle to protect the younger cows, even if there aren't any (they're not very smart). If it's windier than like 10MPH gusts, they face with their butts to the wind. As for compasses in their brains...um no.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Cassius Corodes]

You forgot the part where the lady accuses the scientist of being arrogant and intolerant...

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[i speak the truth]

Do you really buy that argument?

in Britain, Ireland, India and the USA. They also studied 3,000 deer in the Czech Republic

These are ALL in the northern hemisphere.. that is a huge systematic with respect to the sun, and some handwaving is not going to get rid of it. Huge variation in sunlight? While the average direction of the sun is ALWAYS south??

How about asking the question: even if the cows had a natural compass, how does it benefit them to face north instead of some other direction or not at all?

TFY (think for yourself)

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[kipman725]

isn't this orginaly from some terry pratchet book?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[lysergic.acid]

actually, if you mate an australian cow with a north american cow, you end up with a calf that points "up." this biological defect inevitably causes the calf the starve to death.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[i speak the truth]

good catch. the new scientist article is a lot more informative and convincing than the one from the telegraph.

link

as many people have suggested though, this begs for an actual controlled experiment with cows in boxes, etc.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[neonfrog]

Clearly it should have been tagged: correlationisnotcowsation

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[phantomfive]

I'm not a cow expert or anything, but having lived in the country most of my life (directly between three daries!), I have to agree with the sibling....dairy cows are mainly kept in pens filled with menure up to their knees. They don't seem to mind, however, maybe because the get to eat sweet silage, but who knows. When the cows are out of the milk producing season, they are put in a pasture.

Usually, though, milk cows don't need to be kept in a pasture. Almost always when I drive along and see bunch of cows in a field, they're angus or some other bunch of meat producing cows. Maybe they have cow barns somewhere where they keep them, but I've never seen them. That's my experience, based on looking around.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[solferino]

Chickens are also fed a smaller version of these, just after birth.
It's called a chick magnet.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[inviolet]

I live in Montana, and there's plenty of cattle up here.

I would like to have seen Montana.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[lysergic.acid]

very interesting tidbit.

on a side note, i'm somewhat disturbed that livestock are still commonly fire branded these days, which the cow magnet article alludes to. i mean, there are so many more ethical alternatives to a hot brand--tattoos, ear tags, RFID chips, freeze branding, etc. which would all be far less painful to the animal.

why not just have the calf swallow an RFID tag that also contains a GPS device (like a livestock LoJack) just like they're fed cow magnets? it seems so barbaric and senseless to me that in this day and age we still haven't grown out of the tradition of branding animals with hot irons.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Free the Cowards]

How is this GPS device going to receive a signal through several feet of cow, and what's going to power it?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[skimitar]

Well there you go, I never knew that.It's amazing what you learn on the net.

However, I am too jaded to be surprised that:

1. There are cow magnet scams
2. And there are anti-cow magnet scam websites http://www.cowmagnetscam.org/

I am not brave enough to see if Rule 34 is satisfied, but I can guess the answer.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Sparky McGruff]

And you forgot the part where the lady got a law passed demanding the teaching of "cow theory" and "turtle theory" in science classes.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[beav007]

Actually, It's New Zealand for sheep. We in Australia run both sheep and cattle.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[siriuskase]

They produce ice milk

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[HeadlessNotAHorseman]

Well, that explains the cow that is stuck on my fridge!
 
Of course, if the magnet had a part to play in this issue, then there would surely be an even distribution of cows facing north and south.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[siriuskase]

Not in my part of America. Around north Georgia, most cow pastures have meat cows and steers in them. There are no barns, just trees and creeks which the cattle use for shelter and cooling. Actually, there are barns, but they are for storing hay and equipment such as hay balers. The cows can't get into the barns unless they break through the fence.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[rah1420]

I would like to have seen Montana.

I don't think I've ever thought "aw, shit" with more feeling than when I saw that scene. Poor bastard.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[StrahdVZ]

NEWSFLASH: Slashdot armchair critic makes assumptions about research based on sensationalist newspaper article.

Story at eleven.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[PaganRitual]

Conserving heat by standing still together is one thing, but a lesser known fact is that by also huddling together while actually moving they also converse moomentum.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[PaganRitual]

Don't confuse the issue here, this is about hard science, not your beliefs.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Smallpond]

That's the last time I read a post by an Anonymous Cowherd.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[rthille]

I got that the joke was related to the story, I just chose to ignore it.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[lysergic.acid]

1.) unless the cow's stomach is lined with metal, it shouldn't be a problem for the GPS signals to penetrate it. and earth cows are much smaller than ...whatever the hell kind of cow has several feet of insulation.
2.) batteries.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[sameerds]

I believe a cow's eyes are on the sides of their head. Not at the front of their head, like ours. Therefore, the sun would be in their right eye in the morning, and the left eye in the afternoon.

Yeah, but they would still like it on their ass rather than their forehead anyway!

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[lewko]

How is this GPS device going to receive a signal through several feet of cow
Well, that's easy. You just make every tenth cow swallow a repeater and a signal amplifier.

what's going to power it?
Attached to the device, is a long cord, which will hang out of the cow's mouth (or in some circumstances, the other end). You just plug 'em in each night.

I got that idea from an anorexic's how-to guide.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Smallpond]

Back off, man. I'm a scientist.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[zobier]

As if the magnetic field would somehow align itself with the cows.

Great idea for a new religion. The cows maintain the Earth's magnetic field through their daily meditation.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Killjoy_NL]

Dacht eerder amerikaans of frans :P

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[syousef]

As most glider pilots can tell you, cows have their backs against the wind. We use them for wind cues during emergency landings.

So does that mean you can't use the term "bullseye" for a good landing? I've got a mental image of a glider slaming into a bull.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[pruss]

Any hypothesis involving only sun position would only yield geographic north-south alignment, while apparently this research found magnetic north-south alignment.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[pruss]

I think buildings and streets tend to be aligned with true north/south, not magnetic north/south. I am not sure how much stuff other than magnetic fields and their detectors is aligned with magnetic north/south.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jaxtherat]

Have you read TFA? These guys seem to have done this with reasonable scientific rigor:

Dr Sabine Begall and colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen looked at thousands of images of cattle on Google Earth in Britain, Ireland, India and the USA. They also studied 3,000 deer in the Czech Republic. The deer tended to face north when resting or grazing.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[GotenXiao]

How appropriate. You resemble a dairy farme- no, wait...

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[BrokenHalo]

Next, these researchers will discover a bizarre new breed of Australian cows that like to point south.

Actually, this afternoon the cows just outside the building I'm sitting in (in south-western Australia) are facing due east. So much for that.

Yeah, I guess they don't like the sun in their eyes, but cows are quite smart. They are certainly smart enough to realise that it's OK to face west in the morning and east in the afternoon if that's what makes them comfortable.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[saskboy]

But it does produce delicious veal that flips itself over automatically when cooking.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[thealsir]

Actually, I think it explains well to people who might not get the joke right away, but go ahead and mod redundant everyone...

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Monsuco]

In America, if an adult cow is grazing, it's almost certainly a dairy cow.

Not true at all. Travel to Wyoming some time. The cows there are used for meat, but they keep plenty grazing around to produce more cows. You are right about the steers, but at my grandparents ranch, several of the best cows (females) are kept each year to replace older cows which are nearing the point in their life where they don't give birth anymore (they are sold a few years before the cow akin to menopause). These cows sit around all day and graze.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Dr. Hok]

They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes.

Exactly this is why you should always first go north if your kid gets lost on the beach.

OTOH TFA says they ruled out effects of the sun.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[famebait]

I live on a road that is adjusted every year to remain aligned with magnetic north/south.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[mpe]

They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes.

Maybe not having the sun in their eyes makes it easier to spot predators.
Anyway it should be quite easy to test if cattle have a magnetic sense.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[StuckInSyrup]

Cows? I always thought those were turtles.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[bickerdyke]

Why should roads be aligned N/S or E/W in the first place? shouldnt they rather just follow the direction of the two points they are supposed to connect?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[SharpFang]

We will fight for Bovine Freedom
And hold our large heads high
We will run free with the Buffalo
Or die.... COWS WITH GUNS!

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Suhas]

Indiana (I know cows are sacred in India) seems like a prime candidate for studying cows from space. In 2005 Indiana University released a complete set of aerial photos of the whole state that had as high as 6" per pixel resolution.

India is a country. Indiana is a state in the U.S. Which one are you talking about?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Trogre]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who remembers that song. ...Cows well hung...

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[jacquesm]

Toch niet, geboren en getogen mokummer, 5 jaar in Canada gewoond, 2 jaar in Polen en sinds 2 jaar weer in nl (groningen).

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[StuckInSyrup]

Last year I visited a lecture by someone (a conference, don't remember the name) who studies the magnetic "sense" of migratory birds. One hypothesis is that Earth's magnetic field alters the vision of the birds. The animals see a little differently when aligned on the north-south axis and on the east-west axis. Their brain should be able to use this kind of input.
There is no reason to believe the eyes/brains of other vertebrates are unable of this perception. Perhaps humans could train their brains to "see" magnetism as well.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[soliptic]

True, but then you have to consider the fact that the road was originally a cattle trail, and the cows were walking northward, just like the article said.

I never have mod points when I want them... This is the point I make some remark about spraying my mouthful of tea all over my keyboard, except that didn't happen, and frankly I suspect it never happens, to anybody.

Anyway, to give some vaguely on-topic content besides the "MOD UP FUNNYY!!"1!!", has else found much significance in their north-south orientation? I've read that humans, too, have a favourite, for sleeping, and if (for example) they always sleep pointing north at home, they may find sleep difficult/disturbed if they go away to (eg) a hotel room with a westerly bed. Can't remember where I read it, though, so I've no idea how seriously to take it.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[elgatozorbas]

I believe your right.

You believe his right to do what?

Mom, there making fun of me... again!

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[sm62704]

Use of "fixed that for you" shall be considered proof that the user is a complete fool

There, fixed that for you. ;)

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[chefmonkey]

I believe your right.

You believe his right to do what?

Mom, there making fun of me... again!

There? Where?!?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Free the Cowards]

In most parts of the world, the difference between true and magnetic north is under 15 degrees. Not the sort of difference you're going to be picking up when looking at cows on aerial photography.

But in any case, my street is aligned with neither. It simply happens to be pointed in that direction at this particular location. But it most certainly wasn't laid out to point straight north or anything of the sort.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Criffer]

2) RFID doesn't require power.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[DangerFace]

I live in England, and we here limies are quite a long way from the Arctic. Yet when I am out on a walk and have neglected to bring a compass I can tell North from South quite accurately with the sun and a watch, even at midday. The same midday that means my house has quite a shadow to the North. You're talkin' a load of bullhooey!

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[Free the Cowards]

Cows are pretty damn big. And GPS does not penetrate water very well at all. You can have signal trouble simply from a forest canopy. A bunch of cow is going to cause all sorts of trouble.

And what kind of batteries are going to power a GPS unit for years?

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[sm62704]

It doesn't matter where the sun rises or sets if it's cloudy or noon, it won't help you find your way.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[elgatozorbas]

I believe your right.

You believe his right to do what?

Mom, there making fun of me... again!

There? Where?!?

See! You wouldn't believe me, but its through.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[lysergic.acid]

true, microwave signals generally can't penetrate water for more than a couple of inches or so, but that's solid water.

AFAIK, commercial GPS receivers can operate just fine during heavy rain, or snow storms. they're even used in avalanche rescue applications without problem. ground-penetrating radar also uses UHF frequencies and can operate through a variety of media, including ice and fresh water. with a decent sized antenna it shouldn't be a problem for the GPS signal to be picked up through a couple of inches of animal flesh.

and there are plenty of consumer devices out there these days that can last several years without changing batteries. this humidity/temperature monitoring device, for instance, has a 10-year battery life. there's also inductive charging, which is used for a lot of medical implants.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[my_left_nut]

easy enough to prove - just look at the cows in Argentina. They'll point south if they're trying to avoid the sun getting in their eyes.

I'd be leery on blaming the earth's magnetic field on the phenomenon since it has reoriented very recently (like on 100,000 year intervals). Cows have been around for a lot longer than that.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[my_left_nut]

They don't really vanish. They reappear at the south pole for a microsecond, only to then reappear at the north pole for a microsecond. Forever.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[v(*_*)vvvv]

Yes yes. The "gay" cow.

Re:You too can be an armchair scientist.

[PachmanP]

"There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch."

Small proviso

[$RANDOMLUSER]

That was spherical cows of uniform density - at STP.

Re:Small proviso

[ByOhTek]

are they massless and frictionless?

Re:Small proviso

[arotenbe]

Radiating milk isotropically!

Re:Small proviso

[wsanders]

Uniform, frictionless cows at standard temperature and pressure DOES make them much easier to locate with Google Cow Finder (TM).

Re:Small proviso

[tool462]

are they frictionless?

Based on a couple of images, the farmer clearly didn't think so.

Re:Small proviso

[Dakhran]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_cow

Re:Small proviso

[ByOhTek]

And once again some slashdotter indirectly causes my coworkers to look at the weird laughing guy.

Time-averaged sunlight

[AlpineR]

Maybe the cows base their orientation on sunlight rather than magnetic field. I mean, what about the magnetic field would make cows want to align with it? Nothing I can think of, but facing north might protect their heads from excess sunlight (or help rid pests from the other end).

The researchers say that they ruled out sunlight orientation based on variations in direction, but maybe the cows are smart enough to average out the direction of the sun to find north. Since cows tend to stay in the same place day-to-day, it wouldn't take long to figure out which direction in the landscape is north. And a whole herd of cows each estimating north itself should settle on true north pretty easily.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[Kingrames]

Perhaps they are showing reverence to the almighty invisible polar cow.

I hear he's where 2% milk comes from.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[krgallagher]

I used to fish a lot as a kid. I come from a rural area and my uncle taught me to fish. We would always watch the cattle on the way to the lake to see if they were eating or lying around. As my uncle used to say, "If the cows are eating the fish will be too."

I also noticed that the cows in a herd all used to point the same direction. It might be north, or it might be south. The prevailing winds in this area tend to be from the north during the winter and the south during the winter. You can ask any rancher, and he will tell you that cows stand with their backs to the wind.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[moderatorrater]

I wonder if the research averaged the direction for them.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[Antibozo]

Indeed, keeping the sun out of their eyes would make it easier for them to spot a predator.

The claim that the scientists could rule out sunlight based on "huge variations" is absurd, given that they are using satellite photographs as their source and thus automatically selecting imagery where the sky is clear. The fact that they rely on Google Earth imagery even more specifically selects images outside the extremes of morning and evening when the sun is low on the horizon.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[CrazedWalrus]

"He"? Dude, I'm never drinking 2% milk again. *shudder*

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[tbird20d]

The prevailing winds in this area tend to be from the north during the winter and the south during the winter.

Which must be confusing for the cows...

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[HTH NE1]

"Do you know the cow? He is an insolent bastard and will die a horrible, painful death!" -- Mi-ik

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[Experiment 626]

At least now you know what the other 98% of the white liquid is.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[eli pabst]

That was my first thought as well. I thought this was the rationale for why mosses tend to grow on the northern side of a tree. Makes more sense than a theory suggesting mosses and cows can sense geomagnetic fields.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[_Swank]

why would you ever expect that mosses and cows would react to stimuli in the same way?

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[Josef Meixner]

I found the press release by the university (press release (in German) is here) and it contains a bit more information. They also checked areas with known deviations of the magnetic field and found, that the cows seem to react stronger to the magnetic north than the geographic north.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[gyrogeerloose]

Indeed, keeping the sun out of their eyes would make it easier for them to spot a predator.

It would also make them easy targets for any predator smart enough to to stalk them from out of the sun. Which would be most predators, I think.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[eli pabst]

Why would they not? It's a fairly simplistic solution to a mutual problem. Many organisms tend to have similar reactions to other basic stimuli, e.g. heat, cold, wet, dry, etc.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[Antibozo]

Not really. Since cows stand in herds, all most of them can see in any given direction is other cows. The relatively few cows who are on the sunward side of the herd can face sunward to watch for predators out of that direction. The rest of them might as well optimize their vision by facing away from the sun.

It also benefits herd animals all to stand in the same orientation, where possible, so that if they need to run as a herd, they don't collide.

One should also consider that Google Earth imagery is of lower resolution in rural areas. So the sampling methodology will also favor areas of the world where pasturage is colocated near urban areas. This will tend to exclude most of South America and Australia, which will skew the findings toward the northern hemisphere.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[Antibozo]

I should also say that if you are correct that smart predators will stalk the herd from the sunward side (rather than, say, downwind), then all the more reason the cows should line up facing away from the sun, and, hence, the predator. When the predator attacks, they'll already be pointed in the right direction for running away.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[pipingguy]

"He"? Dude, I'm never drinking 2% milk again. *shUDDER*

Fixed.

Re:Time-averaged sunlight

[pipingguy]

If the cows are eating the fish

Comma missing?

How about a simpler explanation?

[Chemisor]

A much simpler explanation is that a north-facing cow does not have the sun in her eyes? Cows have eyes on the sides of their heads, so looking directly away from the sun is the only way to avoid glare. Cows would rest during the hottest part of the day - in the afternoon, when the sun would be furthest to the south, so resting cows would naturally tend to face north. A simple experiment could be devised to verify this hypothesis with a shade and a giant mirror.

Re:How about a simpler explanation?

[$RANDOMLUSER]

A simple experiment could be devised to verify this hypothesis with a shade and a giant mirror.

Visions of Wile E. Coyote leap to mind...

Re:How about a simpler explanation?

[mr_mischief]

Which way does your planet rotate?

Re:How about a simpler explanation?

[Z00L00K]

It really makes sense, and it is also possible that insects can play a role too. Cows does suffer from flies and other insects that are more bloodthirsty and by facing in a specific direction they may actually be less disturbed by the insects.

But as usual - there are many issues that can influence the pattern, and it may well be a combination of issues.

Re:How about a simpler explanation?

[Anonymous Coward]

A simple experiment could be devised to verify this hypothesis with a shade and a giant mirror.

Visions of Wile E. Coyote leap to mind...

As well they should! He is a Super Genius, after all...

Re:How about a simpler explanation?

[HTH NE1]

Which way does your planet rotate?

Northern or southern hemispherical axis point of view? It matters, you know.

"Have you any idea how difficult it is to navigate on a planet with a counter-clockwise rotation?" -- Doctor Who, paraphrased

Re:How about a simpler explanation?

[emarkp]

The mentioned hypothesis could easily be tested by applying a magnetic field to cows and noting how they react.

Surely any "scientist" performed this test before the news release? Or did the "scientist" just decided that a bunch of pictures was worth mentioning?

Re:How about a simpler explanation?

[King_TJ]

I was thinking this might call for a Mythbusters episode on Discovery Channel involving a huge electromagnetic field set up in different places in the farmer's field?

Subject Requires More Study IMO

[Nymz]

While cows may actually have some ability to sense magnetic fields, like some other creatures can for navigation or migratory purposes, why would they do so for just standing around? I'm still inclined to believe that their north/south inclination is related to the east/west inclination of the sun.

Re:Subject Requires More Study IMO

[toleraen]

Subject Requires More Study IMO

I'm not sure this subject warrants any study at all...

Re:Subject Requires More Study IMO

[Nymz]

I'm not sure this subject warrants any study at all...

Funny, but you never know, a lot of discovers come from looking into non-obvious places.

Re:Subject Requires More Study IMO

[camperdave]

some other creatures can for navigation or migratory purposes, why would they do so for just standing around?

Modern day cows just stand around because they're fenced in. In the past, they would have been wandering from place to place on migratory paths, like their buffalo cousins.

Re:Subject Requires More Study IMO

[UID30]

I'm not sure this subject warrants any study at all...

Funny, but you never know, a lot of discovers come from looking into non-obvious places.

Agreed. Most significant scientific advances start with some smart guy saying, "Hmmmm. Thats odd."

That being said, I fully expect "cow-due-north" powered flying cars within 10 years.

Re:Subject Requires More Study IMO

[FiloEleven]

I don't want to lend any credence to this dubious report, but could it be some evolutionary trait from before cows were kept in pens? I doubt that they always stood around in the same area when there were no fences to keep them there. Their magnetic sense (again, if it exists) probably doesn't serve a purpose today, but it may have at some point in the past.

Re:Subject Requires More Study IMO

[stuckinarut]

Yeah like sometimes you RTFA and there's facts in it!

Re:Subject Requires More Study IMO

[toleraen]

It was more of a joke than anything...if there actually was decent evidence that they specifically point north, regardless of any other factor, it'd be something.

Re:Subject Requires More Study IMO

[gregbot9000]

Ranch cows have magnets in their bellies to collect scrap iron. They are pretty big magnets too. I'm putting my money on fact that big lumps of north aligning metal are most comfortable when you face the same way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_magnet
I used to play with these as a kid, they are F---ing strong.

Re:Subject Requires More Study IMO

[solarium_rider]

We can test this...we just need to find some aerial images of cows in the dark or under complete cloud cover.

Does this take into account the effect of peer

[hasbeard]

pressure among cows.. just asking.

Re:Does this take into account the effect of peer

[mstahl]

Yeah that's what I initially thought. Like how birds flock in the same direction. Maybe every group of cattle has one really charismatic cow that likes facing north.

Re:Huh

[snowraver1]

I live in ranching country, and when I pass the cows on the road, it seems quite random to me. If I was lost, and came across a cow, I wouldn't use it for directions...

How many cows do I need?

[topham]

How many cows do I need to get a good sample? Is there any period between herding them, and them settling down to point north? Are we talking 30 seconds? 20 minutes? I'm trying to figure out if I need to take a compass or some cows. I don't have the carry the cows.

Re:How many cows do I need?

[Z00L00K]

Cows are extremely curious so just by showing up in the perimeter of where they are located you will influence the pattern you want to study.

Re:How many cows do I need?

[mhall119]

I'm trying to figure out if I need to take a compass or some cows.

Take one of each. You know what they say, you can't have your compass and eat it too.

Re:How many cows do I need?

[vlm]

Heisen-cow uncertainty principle?

Correlation is not Causation

[nameendingwith]

Perhaps it is north because the cows are pointing in that direction...

Re:Correlation is not Causation

[tourvil]

So now we've got true north, magnetic north, and bovine north?

Re:Correlation is not Causation

[Create Account]

Which is where we get the phrase 'There's Cow & True Cow'. Apologies to Bill Bailey.

Re:Correlation is not Causation

[Baby Duck]

You beat me to the punch!

Re:Correlation is not Causation

[hachete]

It's Canadian North they're pointing at, the One True North. They like that their milk gets put in BAGS!!!

Re:Correlation is not Causation

[chunkyq]

Just for the record, I live in Canada (British Columbia), and I've never seen milk in a bag. I've heard that it exists, but I've never see it, or even a picture.

Re:Correlation is not Causation

[LordKronos]

Milk in a bag:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB4hPjRvzu4

Re:Correlation is not Causation

[TMB]

I think it might just be an Ontario thing... my mother-in-law from Newfoundland was visiting last month and was also quite amazed by our bags of milk.

Re:Correlation is not Causation

[Perf]

Hypothesis: Does the alignment of cows actually create the earth's magnetic field?
Supporting evidence:
1) Cows are not stationary. The earth's magnetic poles are not stationary.
2) The moon has relatively few cows.* The moon has a very weak magnetic field.

*Note: Some may say that the moon has NO cows, but absence of evidence is not proof.
In addition, nursery school have long held a verbal tradition that cows are capable of traveling beyond the moon.

Re:Correlation is not Causation

[kubitus]

absolutely correct! and an observation is not yet scientific, just because you thought up one possible explanation! Scientific method includes the necessity of a proof and/or a forecast which is to be shown correct. the reason the "self-declared scientists" posted this: it is much easier to post something than to build an artificial magnetic field and see if the cows orient themselves again to magnetic north. posting is easier than making an experiment: Q.E.D. by this posting!

I propose a new Game Show

[spun]

I shall call it, "Are You Smarter Than a Scientist?" Just pick any old science type story, read a poorly written summary of it, then 'prove' the scientists in question are idiots who didn't even consider the Most Obvious Thing. All Slashbots are welcome to compete.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[courteaudotbiz]

Well, at least you would have the opinions of many instead of only to biaised scientists! Open source science, like the /. poll proposed?

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[MindlessAutomata]

You're right. People should never think critically and try to find other, simpler explanations for a supposed phenomenon, not as long as it comes from a scientist, of course. That would be 'proving' they're idiots, and that's Wrong.

Next time I read something a scientist wrote I'll be sure to keep your advice in mind.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[courteaudotbiz]

And dont forget the KY to make sure the scientist's idea slips in easily... ;-)

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[halcyon1234]

Oh, I'll play!

My theory is that Google Earth does take good pictures of cows. The resolution isn't good in rural areas where cows normally reside, and it isn't economically feasible to take high-res photos of every single farm. So what they did instead was invested a bunch of money taking one really, really accurate cow picture. Then they did a global search and replace, replacing all the fuzzy cows with their one HD Cow. That cow happened to be facing north-- and thus, all cows seem to be facing north

For the lightning round, I'll suggest they only looked at one herd of cows, and since cows are herd animals, they were all pointing the same direction.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[PerfectSmurf]

Perhaps cows possess extra sensory perception akin to esp. They sense that a mysterious device high in orbit is photographing them so they turn to MOOn it... or maybe just look at it, depending on location.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[Paradise Pete]

You're right. People should never think critically and try to find other, simpler explanations for a supposed phenomenon, not as long as it comes from a scientist, of course.

Critical thinking is good, of course, but what usually happens here is that people think for about ten seconds, come up with something obvious, and just assume that the researchers who've been working on for months and sometimes years somehow never thought of it. Like this guy, for one example.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[AshtangiMan]

Man the mods have it in for you today . . . I'd have given you an insightful on your OP. But the game already exists, and is what made Slashdot so popular . . . geeks looking for any pedantic correction they might find to make. Before I came to slashdot I did not know what pedantic meant, but it was kindly pointed out to me, as in the beginning I exhibited this same behavior. It would be an hilarious show, especially when evolution was the topic.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[RingDev]

I would tend to agree with you, but for one minor problem. Having worked with a number of research docs and having friends who have had similar experiences...

There are idiots with PhD's.

There are idiots doing research.

Most of the docs I know personally are pretty top notch researchers (although the concept of business isn't a strong suit). But many of them have made mistakes, and one smart person making a mistake in front of 10 idiots can result in some really dumb papers.

They could be on to something, but there is a good bit of detail missing from the article that would help to reinforce their opinion. If the lack of that detail is just due to the article author/editor, so bit it, but if that lack of detail is due to the research, then their work was a waste. All in all, the article is a waste. Maybe their published paper is better, I'll have to see if I can track it down.

-Rick

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[bonkeydcow]

I clicked that link thinking... "Please don't let it be me..."

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[Anne_Nonymous]

Clearly cows are afraid of moss (which grows on the North side of trees) and a running away from it.

Sometimes the stupidity of the scientific community amazes me.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[oldhack]

Perhaps cows possess extra sensory perception akin to esp....

You seem to have an esp that I don't have.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[TheDarkMaster]

I agree. I found most of "generic" people is unable even to think critically, they prefer others thinking for then (no warrants if the "guru" is right or wrong)

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[MindlessAutomata]

Precisely. Scientists have made elementary mistakes before, and we've even seen it here on slashdot. And many times a scientist may discount something that actually IS a valid explanation.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[MindlessAutomata]

People only have an article to go by, they don't have the paper here. There's nothing wrong with looking at possible weaknesses in their interpretation of the data or their methodology; hell, experts have even made elementary logical mistakes before so I don't know where you get off thinking that people shouldn't try to find weaknesses in hypothesizes presented to them.

But of course, questioning what an "expert" says if you're not an "expert" in that field obviously means you've got personal ego problems and should humble yourself with a little more trust and faith.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[Televiper2000]

I concur. Often the simplest explanation is: you're not smart enough to make research scientist look like an ass in 10 seconds.

What's really funny is how complex the "it's the sun" explanation has become in this thread. In order for the sun theory to work: all images must have been taken at high noon, the scientists wouldn't know the difference between geographic north and magnetic north, cows must be more comfortable with the sun behind them, and all images taken in the Northern Hemisphere.

Sorta of reminds of this other type of critical thinking I've heard about, catspoornacy theory or something...

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[PaganRitual]

I propose that it's merely incorrect interpretation of the articles language.

All cows face in random directions, north, south, north north west, another cows butt, etc etc.

But, like pictures of people naked in windows and coming out of porn stores, Google Earth has managed to take photos of not often occuring events, such as cows raising their hooves and pointing.

Everyone is just confused by the language employed. A cow facing west has no trouble pointing north. Bendy at the knees, you see.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[eennaarbrak]

I agree absolutely. Another peeve is the amount of "correlationisnotcausation" tags these types of articles get. True, correlation does not PROOVE causation, but it provides a great starting point for conjecture and the scientific process.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[spun]

I guess I have to spell it out for you, because you still seem to think I want everyone to bow down to scientific authority, which I don't. What I want is for people to stop spending five seconds thinking up the most obvious objections, not to any actual paper, but to a summary of it, and thinking they have thought of something that the scientists haven't. If you can't see how stupid that is, I pity you. Yes, it DOES indicate an ego problem, the ONLY reason people do it here is to try to look clever.

I'm saying, it doesn't make anyone look clever, it makes them look like a douchebag. No one first posting on Slashdot has EVER thought up an objection the scientists in question did not think of first. Not once. They are engaging in intellectual masturbation, nothing more.

Real and interesting critiques of research presented on Slashdot DO happen, but there is a big difference between them and the oh so common, "Hey, what about this OBVIOUS objection?" karma whoring first or near first posts you see from idiots who know nothing of the field they are critiquing.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[MindlessAutomata]

What constitutes an "obvious" objection? One you disagree with, what?

Scientists have made simple and obvious errors; people on slashdot have laughed at them:

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/29/2212226

Many scientists are, in fact, idiots like most of 'em, some with some very weird ideas. Michael Behe is in fact a molecular biologist and his claims about evolution can be shot down rather easily by someone with a little knowledge of evolution or study.

I know you're just trying to sound smart, sassy, and cynical; maybe you're pissed because someone trashed one of your favorite dogmas. Either way, it doesn't really matter.

If you're going to criticize over this give some examples instead of some general whine that you probably copy and paste in every science article with a strange claim.

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[spun]

Okay, you don't agree with my criticism of the way some geeks criticize without thinking. Noted. As another example, besides the one someone else posted, how about you look at the first post in this article?

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[MindlessAutomata]

No, I do agree with your criticism in theory. The problem is, you lament "obvious" criticisms, yet, that's such a vague, blanket complaint that I have no idea to know what exactly you are taking issue with, except that it's just something you personally don't like.

You want to talk about the obvious, how about the fact that you are pointing out that people point out the obvious on slashdot? Everyone knows that now, so I don't know what purpose your rants are supposed to serve...

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[spun]

I don't have a personal issue with anything except idiocy masquerading as intelligent commentary. Plus I just like to piss in people's Grape-Nuts. Nothing like directly trolling Slashdot's core audience (which I assume are smug pseudo intellectuals like myself) and getting a +5 Interesting moderation for it. :P

Re:I propose a new Game Show

[nCnt]

Nice answer. I'm next.

Cows like to eat grass but they are lazy. So they would prefer to graze where there is a lot of grass.

When vegetation grows on a hill, it is lusher on the sunny side of that hill. In the Northern hemisphere that side happens to face south.

Not only are cows always hungry and lazy, but they are also big. So big that keeping their center of gravity over their hooves is really important to them so they don't tip over. And the best way to do that on a hill is to face the top of the hill because it is easier to have your front legs above your back legs than it is to have at your lefts and rights at different heights.

So it's not that all cows face north, just the ones lucky enough to find the greener side of a hill.

Hope I make the lighting round. I've got some theories about mutilating aliens using Polaris to blind their victims on the approach.

Brazilian Beef

[pha7boy]

is that why Brazilian beef tastes so strange? because they face South? hmmm....

Re:Brazilian Beef

[eclectro]

is that why Brazilian beef tastes so strange? because they face South? hmmm

No. Because Brazilian beef trots.

Re:Brazilian Beef

[corbettw]

First loud laugh of the day, that was a good one.

Magnetic or geographic?

[courteaudotbiz]

Didn't RTFA, but maybe it's worth asking the questions; are they pointing to geographic or magnetic north pole? Then a better hypothesis could be formulated. And what about the cows at the equator? Where are they pointing? And those in the southern hemisphere?

I think that asking all those question could give a better overview; do the cows have magneto-sensitive ions in their brain like pigeons? Or do they only want to avoid the sun in their eyes?

Re:Magnetic or geographic?

[bonehead]

And what about the cows at the equator?

They get horribly confused and their heads explode.

Re:Magnetic or geographic?

[s7uar7]

I'd like to think they spent all day spinning around in circles.

Re:Magnetic or geographic?

[mhall119]

I can't believe you both passed up an opportunity to make a "mad cow" joke.

Re:Magnetic or geographic?

[bonehead]

Too easy.

Re:Magnetic or geographic?

[mapsjanhere]

There wasn't even a reference to the secret cow level yet either.

Re:Magnetic or geographic?

[scorp1us]

Well they spin counter-clockwise above the equator and clockwise below the equator.

Re:Magnetic or geographic?

[roc97007]

> And what about the cows at the equator?

They spin like tops. That's where we get butter from.

Re:Magnetic or geographic?

[gregbot9000]

Cows don't have magnetic sensitive Ions, but they do have magnetic sensitive stomachs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_magnet

Feng Shui

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe cows in India are into Feng Shui.

Cow /. icon?

[davidwr]

When I first saw this my first thought was "idle.slashdot.org."

Busy schedule

[Anonymous Coward]

when eating or resting

As distinct from all the other varied activities cows fill their day with.

Re:Busy schedule

[Verdatum]

From TFA (but not really): "Curiously, they poo facing South-Southeast..."

Conclusion, stand a safe distance from rotating cows.

Re:Busy schedule

[Jason Levine]

Well, some cows spend their time making tools:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3211/2347642183_714b1ca7b3.jpg?v=0

Re:Busy schedule

[Lije Baley]

Such as finding new places to eat and rest. After all, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and certain "lead" (as in "leader") cows spend their spare time exploring. Despite the herd, cows have distinct personalities.

Re:Busy schedule

[korbin_dallas]

Well yeah like smoking and driving.
G. Larson WAS a scientific sketch artist right?

Re:Busy schedule

[Monsieur_F]

Looking at the url you give, I'd say: they do this only in the Flickr Farm.

Thanks, Slashdot!

[eln]

I'm very glad that Slashdot finally added the ability to include informative pictures with their stories. For too long, I've seen news stories about cows and wondered to myself, "What exactly is a cow? What does one look like?" Now, thanks to this excellent feature, I no longer have to suffer the embarrassment of cow ignorance.

Thank you Slashdot!

Re:Thanks, Slashdot!

[Chris Burke]

Weird, the cow in that picture is clearly pointing east!

Re:Thanks, Slashdot!

[77Punker]

The picture is actually related to the article, since the cow has a map of Earth on her side, with North at her top!

Re:Thanks, Slashdot!

[jc42]

Yeah, but readers who used the picture to get an idea of what a cow looks like could be a bit misled. Cows like that one, with a map of the Earth on her side, are quite rare. This is because there are millions of other planets in the galaxy, and each cow develops a map of a random planet. I once saw one that was mostly reddish-brown, with a white splotch on top and a dark, roughly horizontal irregular streak along her side. I now realize that her map was clearly of Mars.

Re:Thanks, Slashdot!

[eln]

Ah well, I didn't find that particularly remarkable, since all of my cows have markings just like that. Actually, not all. I have one cow that has a street map of Detroit on it, but her mother got into the marijuana crop when she was pregnant, so she was always a little off.

Re:Thanks, Slashdot!

[Ma8thew]

Holy shit, I didn't see that.

Re:Thanks, Slashdot!

[greyhueofdoubt]

>>The picture is actually related to the article, since the cow has a map of Earth on her side, with North at her top!

Wouldn't a more accurate photo show the map with North at the cow's head?

-b

Re:Thanks, Slashdot!

[77Punker]

Only if you really hate Australians!

Re:Thanks, Slashdot!

[ignavus]

I saw two cows. One was bovine, the other was an ad for Windows. I often hear people saying "That's a cow of an OS!"

Now I know why.

Is that how you can tell where North is on a

[BitterOldGUy]

cloudy day?

Some survivalist type of guy was condemning your average suburbanite for not being able to tell which way North is on a cloudy day.

The answer is not moss on trees.

I couldn't figure it out and I thought the guy was just a nut.

Re:Is that how you can tell where North is on a

[clone53421]

cloudy day?

Some survivalist type of guy was condemning your average suburbanite for not being able to tell which way North is on a cloudy day.

The answer is not moss on trees.

I couldn't figure it out and I thought the guy was just a nut.

Well, duh. It's the LED display next to the rear-view mirror.

better article

[800DeadCCs]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7575459.stm
This one also states that the herd orientation is different around the South Atlantic Anomaly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly
Probably due to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetite
And can't forget us.. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=49775

Well there is one way to know for sure....

[Anonymous Coward]

Bring 25 cows to the north pole and see if they all arrange themselfs in a star formation.

Where does Gary Larson Live?

[filesiteguy]

One would need to find out where Gary Larson lives. If he is in the northern portions of the globe - Alaska, Siberia - then we can only deduce that the cows are paying tribute to their master.

Re:Where does Gary Larson Live?

[corbettw]

And if he's in the south, they're trying to get away from his torments?

Re:Where does Gary Larson Live?

[juan2074]

Gary Larson lives in Seattle.

Re:Where does Gary Larson Live?

[filesiteguy]

I kinda figured, since he grew up there.

Hence the cows should be pointing either northwest or north east - depending on what side of the Pacific Ocean said cow is on.

But then... ...how does this explain Candadian Cows, eh?

Re:Huh

[bonehead]

Agreed. I live in Iowa, and the only time I really notice a uniformity is in the winter when the weather is harsh. Then they tend to stand with their backs to the wind. I would hypothesize that this is to keep the blowing snow out of their eyes.

On a side note: So browsing through Google Earth now qualifies as being a scientist? Cool! Time to update my resume!

It didn't work...

[Anonymous Coward]

The cows in the pictures are pointing left, which is south from where I'm sitting.

TV Satellite dishes point south

[Jim Buzbee]

TV Satellite dishes point south - So when I'm lost in the wilderness, that's what I look for.

Re:TV Satellite dishes point south

[maxume]

You need a disclaimer:

*Strategy may not apply on all continents.

Re:TV Satellite dishes point south

[tompaulco]

TV Satellite dishes point south - So when I'm lost in the wilderness, that's what I look for.
The ultimate survival tool is a short length of fiber optic cable. Simply dig a shallow trench, place the fiber optic in the trench, fill it back up, and wait for the backhoe to come dig it up.

Re:TV Satellite dishes point south

[ignavus]

Satellites here in Australia all point north.

Won't I laugh when you get lost in the Australian bush and look at a satellite dish and head in the wrong direction!

Pointing West

[camperdave]

The cow in the picture is clearly facing West, judging by the outlines of the continents on its hide.

Perhaps this north facing tendency is the result of the cow magnets that farmers insert into their animals.

Re:Pointing West

[ginbot462]

Cow magnets? Learn something (a real something this time!) everyday. Of course wikipedia made me read about bezoars. So, now I want some yummy:

Pharmacobezoars (or medication bezoars) are mostly tablets or semi-liquid masses of drugs.

It puts a whole new spin on bathroom scene in Trainspotting (ok, not that new).

The real reason...

[Lord Fury]

...is that all the pictures were taken from the west. Everybody knows that a cow's left side is her good side. The cows weren't facing north, they were just trying to look good for the cameras.

That may be so...

[thewils]

But they're a bugger to strap to your wrist while you are out hiking.

But a lot of cows have a magnet in their stomach!

[Furan]

This article does not make any mention of Cow Magnets, used to prevent hardware disease in cows.

IANAP but I am curious if it is related.

Now they tell me!

[CaptDeuce]

After I just spent all that money on a new compass!

Re:Now they tell me!

[clone53421]

In that case, I'd like to make you a great offer on a slightly-used cow...

1 cow (standard version), $2,400
2 colors (Black/White), extra $150
Leather upholstery, $100
Milk reservoir for summer & winter use, $50
4 Milk taps @ $12.50 each, $50
2 Bumpers, finished in Horn @ $ 17.50, $35
Fly swatter, semi automatic, $30
Environmentally friendly exhaust catalyst, $60
All terrain and weather boots, $100
Brake system 2 circuits (Legs front and rear), $400
Multi tone horn, $135
Eyes, HALOGEN, $150
Multiple fuel use possibility, $1,250

Total for cow plus accessories, $4,910

Re:Now they tell me!

[Dog-Cow]

What cow doesn't come with leather upholstery as standard?

Re:Now they tell me!

[clone53421]

Oh... were you wanting something more along the lines of this?

Actually, I suppose if one of those had a big magnet in its stomach it might point north too...

It's a recent phenomenon

[elrous0]

Since George W. Bush got elected, they've all been thinking about stampeding to Canada.

Edible Compass?

[dreamchaser]

Won't someone think of the poor vegetarians! The horror! The horror!

Re:Edible Compass?

[Rob the Bold]

Won't someone think of the poor vegetarians! The horror! The horror!

There is the compass plant, which is not totally edible, but its rosin can be used as chewing gum. As the name implies, it has leaves that align themselves north-south -- and cattle find it delicious. It doesn't really seek the magnetic North Pole, it just tries to avoid getting dried out by the hot summer sun. If I didn't have any shade, I might just turn my back to the sun, too.

Re:Edible Compass?

[MrKaos]

Won't someone think of the poor vegetarians! The horror! The horror!

I keep telling them that they should eat steak because it has a lot of iron in it, now there no way they can argue *that* point!

Re:Huh

[object88]

I would hypothesize that this is to keep the blowing snow out of their eyes.

Damn. I had to read this several times before I realized you weren't saying that the snow was blowing out of their eyes...

They may be able to judge direction...

[icyslush]

...but they cannot tell us angles of inclination because.. *ahem* ... there is no cow level.

I'll be here all week and stay away from the veal.

This just in....

[indy_Muad'Dib]

Scientists discover water is wet and fire can burn you.

Film at 11.

Re:ObPython

[alexj33]

Cattle that like to travel underwater explains how whales evolved, right?

I'm a cow too

[zmooc]

When I was young my bed always used to faced west (as in: my head pointed west when lying in it). Whenever we went on holiday I always woke up facing west as well. Even if the bed was in a totally different direction. I have no idea about the cause, I just stopped doing it when I got older. I'm pretty sure I don't have a built-in compass now though, so I'm a bit sceptical about cows having them;-)

So, here's an alternative explanation: cows have to keep cool. The hotter the sun is, the less surface they want to expose to it. For a cow, that generally means not to let their sides, which have the most surface, be exposed to the sun. And since there's the most sun at noon, when the sun is either in the south or in the north, depending on the hemisphere the cow lives on, cows tend to either point north or south a bit more than in other directions. Add to that that google maps, on which the research was based, actively selects sunny pictures, thereby boosting this effect, and we'd have an explanation for most cows pointing either north or south. Now add to that that the guys that did the research only selected countries on the northern hemisphere and we have a perfect explanation that does not involve magnets;-)

Ok, I might be entirely wrong, but at least my explanation is just as good as the explanation in the rather-short-on-details-article;-)

Re:I'm a cow too

[supernova_hq]

I did a similar thing. My bed always faces North, whenever I'm camping or something I always end up turning my body to face north as well, even if I haven't checked which way is north with a compass.

Oh, yeah, and FYI humans do have a small iron deposit in their nose that works as a compass, I'll be it a weak compass.

Have they not considered...

[strawberryutopia]

Perhaps cows just don't like the sun in their eyes?

*someone whispers something about the southern hemisphere in her ear*

Perhaps Australian cows are weird and DO like the sun in their eyes?

How is it a new discovery?

[seyyah]

Besides any reasons for why they tend to point northwards, I think the astonishing thing is that no one has realised this before. Humans are good at noticing patterns and this seems as though it would be such an obvious one to a sizeable part of humanity -- farmers -- around the world.

ASCII Cows

[jrivar59]

Never before has the slashdot junk character filter been so unfortunate.

Moo.

Now you're getting silly

[rumblin'rabbit]

You don't want to ever mate northern and southern cows. The offspring are "spinners", which are only useful as rodeo bulls or for producing milk shakes.

By the way, do rodeo bulls in the northern hemisphere tend to spin in the opposite direction as southern hemisphere bulls? Someone should do a study on this.

Re:Now you're getting silly

[AmberBlackCat]

Maybe they can take several frames from Google Earth and do some stop motion.

Re:Now you're getting silly

[Archangel Michael]

Someone should do a study on this.

Don't let congress know, we'll spend 2.5 million studying this effect.

depends on which way the wind blows

[FudRucker]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GKu59S2rvs

So what does a cow do at the North Pole?

[vistic]

Spin around in circles? These needs to be tested.

Re:So what does a cow do at the North Pole?

[shadowbearer]

  Stand on their heads? ;)

  Pity the north magnetic pole is out in the arctic ocean...

SB

Heck.

[tthomas48]

Cows can't create sunglasses. Standing North/South is the next best thing.

Satellite imagery = no clouds

[MythoBeast]

I hate to say it, but their sampling is flawed. Since they were using satellite images for their study, they automatically selected a sampling for which sunlight was visible. Even if the sunlight were not currently visible, the kindly bovines might just prefer to stare in that direction out of habit from when the sun IS visible.

Who are these people who call themselves "Scientists", anyway?

To north?

[Fri13]

In scandinavia, cows ain't heading to north when resting or eating. Last week I was photographing cows on few different places and every cow what was resting or eating, was lined to random direction. They are mostly on same area where the "group" is, but small groups were moved to separated area, but still "close" (where did they see the main "group". And I did know where was north because I used map to the two other location where I was driving and one location was near our farm.

Change the magnetic field to test

[xluap]

Maybe the cows orientate themselves away from the sun, and the magnetic field of the earth has nothing to do with it.

To test the influence or lack of influence of the magnetic field of the earth on cows, it would be possible to locally change the direction of the magnetic field with a giant helmholz coil. Then they can see if the cows really orient themselves using the magnetic field, or not.

Cows fart in your general direction . . .

[PolygamousRanchKid]

. . . or so Monty Python tells us . . . so if the cows are looking up north . . . well, sorry . . .

Maybe it's just hot

[shliddle]

Since the vast majority of cows live in the northern hemisphere, the sun would tend to be in the south. Maybe they're just facing away from the sun.

Where's the beef

[Ukab the Great]

I've always wondered why I become fixated on the big dipper after eating a really good burger.

Cows tend to travel into the wind

[Freedom Bug]

They claim to have been able to rule out the wind as a factor, but I'm skeptical.

Any rancher can tell you that cows tend to face into the wind. And the wind is predominantly northerly in many parts of the world.

Blame the vets

[MouseR]

... for shoving up magnetic rods up their butts in order to get metal filings out of their digestive tracts.

The Chosen Cow

[NickDanger3deye]

The scientists apparently did not investigate whether the theology of the cows played any part in facing north.

Two More Discoveries!!!

[ndnspongebob]

I did some research on google earth and it seems a majority of humans stand perpendicular to the surface of the earth!!! This looked interesting so I did some more research and it seems the rest of the people are lying PARALLEL to the surface of the earth!!! Amazing, just amazing!!

They're actually pointing...

[bmg68]

Cows are actually pointing South, not north.

Re:ObPython

[Sen.NullProcPntr]

No, no, no...
Flying Sheep!

Not very useful for hikers

[MtHuurne]

Having an edible compass would come in handy if you get lost.

You would have to choose between eating the cow and staying lost or using the cow as a compass and staying hungry...

Re:Not very useful for hikers

[EunuchsAddMen]

Nah...it's not as black and white as that. "A pig like that, you don't eat all at once." s/pig/cow

Re:Not very useful for hikers

[gregbot9000]

Could just eat the legs and put the cow on some kind of pivot.

damned flat earthers again...

[speedtux]

The earth is a sphere, so you can't just look at surface patches and expect a uniform distribution. For example, any cow you drop on the north pole is always going to be on a North/South axis. Since there are more cows at higher latitudes, you get preferential North/South orientation even if cows just stand around randomly.

All right, dammit, I need a thousand cows,

[OneIfByLan]

the Astrodome, and a tilt-a-whirl. We're gonna spin those cows 'til they puke twice, once for each stomach. Then we're gonna randomly shove them out into the dark on the fifty-yard line and wait a couple hours until they settle. Then we're gonna take an infrared photo from the top of the dome facing down. And then, you're gonna bring me Kari from the Mythbusters and I'm gonna give you the photo.

At that point, I don't care about the damn cows. Knock yourself out.

Maybe because of the Sun?

[blurryrunner]

Most of the year in the northern hemisphere the sun is more southerly than northerly. The opposite is true in the southern hemisphere. Perhaps they don't like the sun in their eyes?

br/

Magnetism? Hardly.

[chibicharlie]

Any Dark Tower fan knows that everything follows the Path of the Beam.

Cow Days

[fahrbot-bot]

From the Cow Days (South Park) page:

Meanwhile, all the cows in the town discover the festival's symbol, a giant cow-shaped clock which moos every hour, and carry it off to start their own cult, where they begin to worship it as a god.

I suspect the simple explanation is that the Clock is at the North Pole and the cows are just respectfully worshipping their God.

Magnets for cow stomachs are commonplace

[skavj_binsk]

In case the city-slicker slashdot readers don't know, it's a standard practice to give all your cows a magnet in a kind of pill form. It helps collect all the random bits of metal that they eat.

http://www.magnetsource.com/Solutions_Pages/cowmags.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_magnet

They're sold at any rural hardware or ranch supply store.

Re:Magnets for cow stomachs are commonplace

[B3ryllium]

If they happen to eat another magnet, couldn't it kill them?

Re:Huh

[captainstormy]

Yea, I grew up on a farm with hundreds of cattle and they never stood around all pointing north. They would kind of tend to break off into small groups of 5-8 and each of those would tend to stand facing one random direction but I've never seen a whole herd face any direction ever little yet a significant amount of the time.

Cow-based cardinal directions

[B3ryllium]

A "For Dummies" book I'm reading (I'll leave you to guess which one; it's quite unexpected) says that cows aim their back ends at the wind, for some reason.

So therefore, I call bullshit on TFA! :)

great science!

[cashman73]

But there's still no cure for cancer. And cows are still causing global warming. But, guddarnit, the f**kers are always facing north! What a relief it is to know that! =)

They're clearly just

[Professor Oompa]

facing their idol

Those googlers... so funny!

[awwaiid]

Though it probably took the scientists a long time to do this study, I bet it took google earth's sources even longer to only include images of cows pointing northward!

Not always South - sometimes SSE

[twoallbeefpatties]

So wouldn't that mean the cows would always be pointing Northwest at 0900 at pointing Northeast at 1600? Wouldn't they only be pointing due North at high noon?

We know how brow cow,

[jgarra23]

we want to know why!!

Wrong logic

[sunking2]

It's obvious that the cows control the magnetic field.

much better explanation: the sun

[circletimessquare]

look east, west, or south, and in the northern hemisphere, one or both eyes are being blinded by the sun

look north, and the sun illuminates your vista from above your backside

so looking north, driven by nothing more than the sun's transit, is very useful for an animal that is hunted and eaten

to casually acquire maximum visual acuity by simply orienting north seems to be a simple herbivore survival tactic, driven by nothing more than the sun's transit

And the cow goes moo.

[niko9]

Alex Trebek: "The sound a doggie makes?"

Sean Conney: "Moo"

Alex Trebek: "That is incorrect"

Sean Connery: "Well that's the sound your mother made last night..."

Is anyone else getting sick of...

[edraven]

the correlationisnotcausation tag? Honestly, it gets trotted out anytime an article mentions even the most tentative conclusions drawn about anything. Yes, thank you, we've been to highschool science. Yet correlation that is statistically significant in data which has been thoroughly examined for possible confounding factors and bias is meaningful. Causation may possibly account for the correlation, in one direction or another. Or the two elements may each have a common cause in some other factor, possibly not present in the data. But it does actually mean something. That's why we collect data and study it.

Re:Is anyone else getting sick of...

[sir_jimmy]

Yes, I also had similar thoughts when I read the summary that there must be a simpler explanation, and I got a good chuckle from the post from fellow slashdot'ers. Scenes of knights bickering back and forth about the aerodynamic properties of laden vs. unladen swallows come to mind. But, I kinda agree with edraven in that I'm disappointed more people have not embraced the researcher's findings as a first step in the scientific process. There are surely ways to test their hypothesis, and the very idea of this prospect seems ideally suited for the tech-savvy slashdot community. Therefore, I'd like to issue a challenge to all slashdot'ers to come up with the next step to test the researcher's conclusions. As a primer, I'm thinking of a collar equipped with a digital compass and a GPS device. There would also have to be some wireless capability to poll the location and orientation of the cattle, and some means of recording the time stamped data into a database.

Re:Is anyone else getting sick of...

[edraven]

I salute you. Probably a good first step would be to address the criticism that only cows in the Northern Hemisphere were observed. Google Earth does also cover the Southern Hemisphere. Get out there and find some cows! :)

Long History of Existence

[Chuckstar]

Humans have been observing cows for millenia. Don't you think someone would have noticed this by now? Its not like cowherds have a lot of other things on their mind when they are minding the herd.

Re:Huh

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, I think you can safely assume that is because you didn't point a satellite camera at them. They only pose facing north for satellite photos. Sufficiently high altitude planes will work for cattle in European countries, but not North America.

Are these images really necessary?

[jmello]

Oh look! A picture of a cow! Golly, I almost forgot what they are, thanks for reminding me, Slashdot. Here, just in case somebody needs it, Taco should edit this into the OP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle . Oh, and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North . And just in case anybody gets lost, you are here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet .

reduce complexity

[roman_mir]

You don't need all those other poles. Have you considered that it maybe that the alignment of cows south to north is what causes the earth to have magnetic pole on the first place? Ha? HA!?

Re:reduce complexity

[dkf]

Have you considered that it maybe that the alignment of cows south to north is what causes the earth to have magnetic pole on the first place?

That's an indirect effect, since cows are not particularly magnetic. It's the alignment of the cows that imparts a spin to the planet, and that in turn generates the magnetic field. See? Much more logical!

Today's /. Quote:

[master5o1]

What the scientists have in their briefcases is terrifying. -- Nikita Khruschev

I suppose they have information about cows pointing north. This is the sort of research that would make me want to become a scientist -- even though it might risk me being caught in Pokemon Red (fyi: my brother caught a scientist in pkmn red sometime nearer 1999).

Re:ObPython

[lgw]

Actually, that's more-or-less right. Ever seen a manatee?

I smell a super exciting...

[kpainter]

Mythbusters episode coming on! To prove their hypothesis, did they build a giant, field-sized electromagnet to show that the cows actually face magnetic north? No. Mythbusters to the rescue!
Seriously, don't these researchers have anything better to do?

Re:Huh

[Locke2005]

They're heisencows... observing them changes the direction they are pointing.

Magnets for health!

[Vehstijul]

It's also possible they're facing north out of comfortâ" It is common to feed cows large magnets about the size of a thick index finger that stay in one of their stomachs for the remainder of their lives. It's there to keep accidentally eaten nails or iron particles from damaging the cow further.

Maybe the cows are facing north because any other direction scrapes the magnet unnecessarily?

http://www.magnetsource.com/Solutions_Pages/cowmags.html

Great! I can't wait!

[erroneus]

I can't wait to get me one of them fancy new COWMPASSES!

Re:But a lot of cows have a magnet in their stomac

[Reziac]

If our magnetic sense is very sensitive, maybe the cows are being affected by their magnets, which might over time tend to align per the Earth's magnetic field -- I don't think that's an unreasonable guess.

Hmm... I've noticed that my own sense of which directions are east/west is affected by how far north I am. I wonder if the skew caused by N/S travel could be "fixed" by sleeping with a magnet suitably aligned and placed under my pillow.

Possibly related, I've noticed that snakes generally move from east to west. If a snake is being a nuisance and I don't want it to come back, I've learned to always take it west of my property; then I never see it again. But if I release it to the east, it'll be back in a day or two. Wonder what would happen if I fed 'em a magnet first? :)

And where do beef steers come from, hmmm??

[Reziac]

Someone says, "In America, if an adult cow is grazing, it's almost certainly a dairy cow."

Not true. The dams of all those steers being shipped to market are ranch cows, which you'll find grazing on the open range. Second, most dairies feed largely silage and baled hay, since milk-producing cows need more protein than range graze provides.

Re:And where do beef steers come from, hmmm??

[konohitowa]

Thank you! Now if only the GP could be modded "bull shit".

Armchair reviewer, not scientist

[philspear]

The linked article is not the actual journal article, so they don't explain what they did or detail their results.

If you look at a summary of a paper you're not an expert in and come up quickly with some potential problems, it's likely that someone who works on this for months if not years is going to have considered that at some point. The fact that it's not in the summary does not mean they didn't look at it and you shouldn't assume they're bad researchers for not making sure this summary (which someone else wrote) had all the technical details.

For example, the external factors like houses and barns, that seems pretty obvious. They would be unearthly stupid to not factor that in. There are ways in which you could factor that in too. If you find the article and they just look at cows removed from all else and find this bias, you're right, that could be from numerous other effects, not the least of which is HUMAN tendancy to north/south.

The conclusion you should get is "poor summary," not poor science. You're the one jumping to unsafe conclusions.

Another issue: how many good scientists promote their work by posting a link to an article? I don't know, are you sure they did or is this "samzenpus" writing this without any input from the researchers?

Re:Huh

[6Yankee]

If I was lost, and came across a cow, I wouldn't use it for directions...

I hope you'd wipe it off instead...

Insult to science

[qqe0312]

Ok so a fact is that cows like to stand with their butts towards the wind. Just Imagine that in the time these satellite pictures were taken the prevailing wind came from the south, that leaves these cows with their nose pointing north. By the way where does the conclusion about cows being sensitive to the magnetic field come from? Maybe they feel with their large body mass the Coriolis acceleration! Maybe we need to have a look at what people who have put out this third rate stuff, this is not science by any standard.

Ass warm...

[gmac63]

And I thought it was to keep their asses warm facing a more southern sun...

Damn.

Eat into the wind

[macdaddy]

My grandpa always said that cattle and horses ate facing the wind...

I for one. . .

[Beechmere2000]

...Welcome our new electromagnetic bovine overlords

South Park

[sconeu]

There just *has* to be a South Park joke somewhere in this....

Re:South Park

[PachmanP]

Isn't the story a South Park joke? I mean come on.

1. Announce cows always point north
2. ?????
2. Profit

Re:South Park

[sconeu]

No... I'm thinking about all the cow episodes.

Edible Compass?

[bthoman]

Having an edible compass would come in handy if you get lost.

If you were lost would you eat your compass? Sounds like a disaster.

Re:I, too, call BS

[mataap]

Well, that's 'cause your monitor is not correctly aligned. The left side of your monitor should be pointed north. Or a cow arse.

Old news?

[gaspacho_soup85]

Is this really new news? I had read about this phenomena years ago.

What's more interesting is how the same scientists found that cows near the LHC tended to sleep facing it instead. Why isn't that in the summary instead?!

Can I magnetize a pig by stroking it with a cow?

[mataap]

Can I magnetize a pig by stroking it with a cow? How many cows can I hang head to arse like paper clips?

Journal article

[Anonymous Coward]

The journal article is here. The abstract gives some details:
"We demonstrate by means of simple, noninvasive methods (analysis of satellite images, field observations, and measuring âoedeer bedsâ in snow) that domestic cattle (n = 8,510 in 308 pastures) across the globe, and grazing and resting red and roe deer (n = 2,974 at 241 localities), align their body axes in roughly a northâ"south direction. Direct observations of roe deer revealed that animals orient their heads northward when grazing or resting. Amazingly, this ubiquitous phenomenon does not seem to have been noticed by herdsmen, ranchers, or hunters. Because wind and light conditions could be excluded as a common denominator determining the body axis orientation, magnetic alignment is the most parsimonious explanation. To test the hypothesis that cattle orient their body axes along the field lines of the Earth's magnetic field, we analyzed the body orientation of cattle from localities with high magnetic declination. Here, magnetic north was a better predictor than geographic north. This study reveals the magnetic alignment in large mammals based on statistically sufficient sample sizes. Our findings open horizons for the study of magnetoreception in general and are of potential significance for applied ethology (husbandry, animal welfare). They challenge neuroscientists and biophysics to explain the proximate mechanisms."

Ever look at a map?

[blueforce]

Pull out an atlas and look at the earth.

It's easier to sleep and eat when you're head's on the uphill or "North" side.

Duh.

Not correct.

[M0b1u5]

Sorry - these guys should have spoken to some paraglider or hang glider pilots before their study. What they would have been told is that at wind speeds exceeding about 5 knots at ground level, cows and horses put their tails into the wind, and keep their heads downwind.

I have used cow-filled paddocks as excellent wind socks on numerous occasions: if cows are NOT aligned in any particular direction, then I know winds are lighter than 5 knots, and I look for other tell-tales of wind direction (smoke, or dust mainly).

At over 5 knots though, cows are extremely reliable, and I have never suffered a downwind landing after checking the cow-orientation of a nearby field.

Re:Not correct.

[Avishalom]

hang glider experience - sheep point into the wind, though perhaps it is to do with temperature, in warm weather they want fresh air on their faces? (and keep the nose upwind of emmissions )

True North or Magnetic North?

[Froeschle]

Was magnetic variation taken into account for these studies? I live in Colorado where we have 9 degrees of magnetic variation, meaning that magnetic north is actually offset about 9 degrees off off true north. Magnetic variation changes around the world. I would be curious to know if this had been taken into account for these studies.

But these aren't cows in a vacuum

[eck011219]

From TFA:

Huge variations in the wind direction and sunlight in the areas where the beasts were found meant that the scientists were able to rule out those factors as being responsible for the direction they were facing.

Seems to me that they're assuming that cows have no recollection of what they did yesterday. I can't help but think that if they have ten sunny days in a row, the cow will learn fairly quickly to take the sun broadside. But if they have ten cloudy days after that, are they assuming that the cows will spin brainlessly out of control and lie every which way? I suspect they'll keep lying in the same direction that brought them warmth before, waiting with that blind stupid hope that it will suddenly become warm again.

The only thing almost as powerful on a simple brain as negative reinforcement is positive reinforcement, and it seems to me a stretch of sunny days could set a herd of cows sitting north-south for a month waiting for another sunny day. They're deeply stupid animals in some respects, but they're not so dumb that they don't have some dim recollection of what scratched the itch yesterday or ten days ago or whatever.

And I'll leave it to you all to figure out how to get a cow in a vacuum. If it's a household vacuum you'll blow a fuse, if it's a scientific vacuum I'd guess you'd have milk and farts everywhere. But that's for another post ...

It's the cow magnets...

[siriuskase]

http://www.magnetsource.com/Solutions_Pages/cowmags.html

Did they control for whether these observed cows had these magnets installed?

Re:Huh

[PaganRitual]

Back in my day, we didn't have no stinkin compass to help us find our way to school, which was often 15 miles away through rugged countryside. Nope, back in my day we each dun had a cow in our backpack that we pulled out and threw up in the air. Darn thing always would land on the ground facin north. Never did understand what why that happened, no siree, but it dun always worked.

Re:But a lot of cows have a magnet in their stomac

[Schnoodledorfer]

I would be curious if the magnets move inside the cow depending on which way the cow is facing. Could it be that the cow tends to stand in whatever direction reduces the discomfort caused by those magnets? They are about 3 inches long and attract sharp hardware, so it seems conceivable, at least.

Unfortunately for that idea, the researchers said that the Czech deer they studied do the same thing. Could the Czech deer have been on farms where they might have had the magnets, too? The article doesn't give any indication.

Holy systematic bias, Batman!

[MoxFulder]

They may just like sun on their backs and not in their eyes.

That was my thought too... if cows prefer sun on their backs and not in their eyes, the vast majority of them will point north. Because there have got to be waaay more cows in the Northern Hemipshere.

Why? Because there is much more land in the Northern Hemisphere (about 2.5 times as much... even more excluding Antartica), and much more human population in the Northern Hemisphere (about 8 times as much), so it stands to reason that there are gonna be a lot more cows too.

Re:Huh

[Amiralul]

Well, you can have either the haisencow's orientation or it's velocity, but never both. So, if the cow is facing north, it could have *ANY* velocity. Beware!

Re:But a lot of cows have a magnet in their stomac

[Reziac]

Well, it's not like the deer would have voluntarily swallowed the cow magnets; as you note they're the size of a man's finger, and are usually given with a pill baller, cuz the cows aren't going to suck 'em down either. The metal trash they DO swallow is a lot smaller (nails and wire fragments). But ... I'm not sure it matters, remembering that the earth's magnetic field affects iron, magnetized or not.

And I'm not sure THAT matters...

When I travel more than about 500 miles north or south of wherever I'm living, I start to feel as if the world has rotated around me, so north is no longer where it belongs. Normally I have very good directional sense, but the effect of this is that even tho I know better, my gut is SURE the sun is going to come up in the west. -- When I moved from MT to CA, it took a while for this sensation to subside and the world to feel correctly-oriented again. I've come to believe this is a probably-normal (if somewhat more sensitized than average) reaction to magnetic north, which of course changes its "angle" depending on where you are. There's some thought that migrating birds navigate by just such a sense.

Anyway, I see no reason why cows shouldn't have a similar sense, having evolved on the same planet.

TFY!

[twoallbeefpatties]

Do I really buy the argument that a bunch of random dorks in the comment section of Slashdot know something that the people who actually worked on the study have no idea about? That these so-called scientists were too stupid to consider something so basic?

...I dunno, but it sure is funny trolling you guys! TFY! LOL!

Re:TFY!

[i speak the truth]

short answer.. yes you should be critical of what you read, and not make some blind appeal to authority instead of addressing what's argued.

must-have item for long-distance hikers

[joeler]

"I guess cows will become the must-have item for long-distance hikers now"

I guess he doesn't know much about cows, they are not sure footed like deer. Cows are really are poor, sad creatures that get upset very easily. But heck you might be too if someone played with your tits every day and kept you pregnant almost all the time, but never allowed you to have sex - No wonder they have the long faces...

railway lines a confounding factor?

[Bazzargh]

Quite a few years back New Scientist had an article where the writer speculated about why cows tend to be parallel to railway lines. His explanation went like this:
- for rectangular fields beside railway lines, 2/3 of the possible gate locations would make the cow enter the field parallel to the railway lines
- even if cows turn, the cow direction is reset two or more times a day, when the cow is milked. (and a 5am/4pm milking schedule, say, would reset them not long before commuter trains pass!)
- cows tend to wander forwards only turning slowly, unlike (say) sheep

the last line is a bit of a stretch, but this was a bit of fun, not a peer-reviewed paper. Anyway, whatever the explanation it really does happen - if you have a countryside commute, look out the window and check out the parallel cows.

Low quality, ineffective or even dangerous ...

[Douwboos]

There's a warning here: http://www.cowmagnetscam.org/#Fraud-Switch-Strong "Sellers of cow magnets are attempting to pass off a new type of Stainless Steel cow magnet as industry standard ALNICO magnets. IMPORTANT: this is not an indication of how much a magnet is attracted to regular metal objects (like the metal hardware ingested by cows). Properly designed stainless steel cow magnets may be the strongest available even though they do not appear to stick to themselves with great strength. The real test is to use a GAUSS meter."

Re:But a lot of cows have a magnet in their stomac

[Schnoodledorfer]

Did you move beyond landmarks that you tended to use to orient yourself? You would know better than me, but if you are used to thinking that Idaho, the Western Range, potatoes, or whatever it is, are to your West or Southwest, then being on the far side of them might mess you up.

I had similar problems when I moved or traveled a few hundred miles north of where I was raised. I think the issue was that I was raised in Ohio, so toward Toledo or Lake Erie was North. When I moved to Detroit temporarily, I was constantly turned around. Of course, if you are correct, that could be magnetism, too, but I had a feeling of being on the wrong side of the land in between. A similar thing happens, too, when I think about directions with respect to locations in continental Europe or Asia. That can't involve magnetism very well, especially since I am just looking at maps or pondering about locations without actually being there. I think I tend to orient myself with the Atlantic Ocean to the East or the Pacific to the West, which, of course, doesn't work so well when considering the Eastern Hemisphere.

Sun or magnets

[fixmedaily]

Maybe they point north to keep the sun out of their eyes? Just because everyone who ever got cancer once ate a pickle does not mean pickles cause cancer.

Turntable

[FrankieBaby1986]

Heh, My ad under the summary is a turntable :)

Give em some time they might really figure it out.

[radpole]

I remember years ago OMNI magazine printed that scientist proved cheese on pizza burned the roof of peoples mouths. The next month they printed a retraction because, pizza sauce retained heat much longer than cheese.

So when do we really find out why they seem to point north?

As usual, nobody care's about Ockham.

[rgviza]

Maybe they face north to keep the sun out of their eyes?
Maybe they do it when the sky is cloudy because of habit?

-Viz

Re:Huh

[jeephistorian]

I find it interesting that cows would prefer to have cold air blown up their rears than into their eyes. On second thought, I don't really find that interesting at all.

Re:But a lot of cows have a magnet in their stomac

[Reziac]

I don't typically orient by landmarks. I orient by "feel" then check landmarks, or my internal map system, as confirmation. In any event, this isn't a landmark thing, and applied both in places I'd never been before, and when I went back there 2 years later. It's a sensation rather like water in the ears, but more subtle. Almost like mild vertigo. Your description of "being on the wrong side of the land between" sounds about right.

Also, when I drove from Montana to San Diego, I could feel it getting more and more "rotated" (always in the same direction) as I went south and west, starting about the middle of Utah -- by more than the changed angle wrt magnetic north, so I'm inclined to think both distance and the direction of the field itself are involved. Check out the charts at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_north !!

When I went to San Francisco the year before, I did not have this problem. Either not far enough south, or perhaps because the angle wrt the magnetic field was the same as in MT.

Looking at maps doesn't "turn me around", but I've always been a map freak, I think it's normal to carry both world and local maps in your head, and to be able to backtrack without thinking about it. I'm never lost, and I don't need a GPS either. :) Which is probably WHY I *noticed* this "turned around" sensation -- the earth-feel (for lack of a better word) no longer matched my internal map.

miow

[Miow]

It is well known that chinese cows point sideways.