Dogs Defecate In Alignment With Earth's Magnetic Field

Daniel_Stuckey writes "But for whatever its worth, all that spinning is far from arbitrary. What dog owners witness is a small and furry version of the aurora borealis and a link between species and environment that's as holistic and beautiful as a dog pooping can be. A team of Czech and German researchers found that dogs actually align themselves with the Earth's magnetic field when they poop. Proving at least that they're really devoted to their work, the researchers measured the direction of the body axis of 70 dogs from 37 breeds during 1,893 defecations and 5,582 urinations over the course of two years, and found that dogs "prefer to excrete with the body being aligned along the North-south axis under calm magnetic field conditions." They fittingly published their results [abstract] in the journal Frontiers in Zoology ."

Comments

wow

[realilskater]

sounds like a shitty job

Re:wow

[bob_super]

But they have secured next year's igNobel...

Re:wow

[plopez]

What do you think grad students are for?

Re:wow

[Tablizer]

But they have secured next year's igNobel...

I dunno, Ig may want to wipe their hands clean of this one.

Re:wow

[Enry]

If they ignore it, there could be a very big mess for them to clean up. They can't let someone else scoop up this prize. These researchers have it in the bag.

Re:wow

[EdIII]

Abuse and entertainment?

dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[goombah99]

I suspect the dogs just don't like staring into the sun then they poo. I'd also speculate that since streets and walls tend to be aligned with the cardinal directions there's an overall alignment augmentation due to their surroundings. finally if they like to poo in a shadow of a tree then likely they may face back to the tree and thus have a bias to north or south alignments.

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[goombah99]

I wonder which way they poo in space and can anyone hear them scream?

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[PsychoSlashDot]

I suspect the dogs just don't like staring into the sun then they poo. I'd also speculate that since streets and walls tend to be aligned with the cardinal directions there's an overall alignment augmentation due to their surroundings. finally if they like to poo in a shadow of a tree then likely they may face back to the tree and thus have a bias to north or south alignments.

Wait. That means that during the early hours they should be facing West and during the late hours they should be facing East. At high noon it doesn't matter what they do. There's no sun-related time that would put bias on North/South axis alignment and the data shows a bias against East/West alignment.

As for the assertion that the alignment of streets and walls are involved, I accidentally RTFA and found this curious line. "The magnetic consciousness was observed only in dogs off leash, in the middle of a field."

Better yet, there's variation in behaviour that reflected magnetic fluctuations.

So it turns out dogshit science isn't as easy as you thought.

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[roc97007]

My dog poops mostly facing east, but I believe that's because I always take him on walks at night along the same route, and there's a long straight easterly stretch close to the end of the route. Come to think of it, I don't remember ever seeing him poop facing north or south. Maybe he's broken.

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean, the frightful day-star, it can actually move?! How fast is it? Can I evade it?

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[EdIII]

Pooing in space has a well known direction:

Everywhere

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[MiniMike]

Maybe this research was conducted by grad students. They wake up just before noon, and work for about an hour.

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[physicsphairy]

According to the paper, studies were conducted in an open field and there was reportedly no bias based on whether data was recorded e.g., in the morning or in the afternoon. Due to the local weather conditions most of the time the skies were cloudy. When there chanced to be magnetic storms during the day then the dogs' North-South preference disappeared. They did a fairly good of controlling for other factors. The alignment of the magnetic field gave the best correlation.

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[Tablizer]

Pooing in space has a well known direction: Everywhere

No, it seems to gravitate toward one's helmet. Dark particles called Murphons appear to be responsible.

Re: dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[danomac]

Naw, wouldn't pooping in space be called a floater?

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[aevan]

I'd love to refute this but... in um... maybe 7,000 walks of our two dogs, the clear majority of the time they face north. They face northish when we walk them on a north/south road. they face north when we let them crap on an east/west road. It's not always, but it's good majority. To the point that they'll muck around nibbling leaves and grass, but moment they do a 'spin in a circle and face north' you know what's coming next.

The only time I've seen them go really randomish is when we're by a power station up the road. So maybe the story has a point.

Re:dogs deficate not staring into the sun

[umafuckit]

This is biology. A standard deviation of 100 degrees is not at all surprising for a study such as this and on its own is not enough to write off the result. The study may be BS for other reasons, but a large SD isn't one of them. Look at the first figure in the paper (http://www.frontiersinzoology.com/content/pdf/1742-9994-10-80.pdf) The clustering around N/S is pretty impressive for the 0% magnetic declination. What I don't understand, however, is why the relationship falls apart when magnetic declination is non-zero. I don't see why that should happen and it makes me think the effect is BS.

I do the same.

[BitterOak]

I do the same, and I have a special rotating toilet in my house for that purpose.

Correlation

[Anonymous Coward]

So which causes which?

My dog is broken...

[Bill_the_Engineer]

He defecates in random directions.

Re:My dog is broken...

[zlives]

please have him subscribe to /. to get his shit straight...

Re:My dog is broken...

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Why do we insist on speculating that animals have all of these magical abilities, like the ability to tell which way is north, ability to tell when an earthquake is coming, ability to tell when a person has cancer, etc. Humans are animals too, and yet we can't do any of these things (without tools). Frankly, I think the people who say animals can do these things are just full of crap.

Different species have different senses, and levels of senses. Your eyesight is much, much keener than a dog's, although not as good as an eagle's; your sense of smell is much better than the eagle's, but nowhere near as good as the dog's. And the way brains with very different structures process the information is different too. Is that really so difficult to believe?

Re:My dog is broken...

[dbIII]

Why do we insist on speculating that animals have all of these magical abilities

This is the opposite - trying to work out more about senses instead of putting it all down to magic.

ability to tell when a person has cancer

They smell different and dogs are better at smelling than us. That's all it is. Sensors can be used instead of dogs now that it has been worked out what the dogs are smelling.

Frankly, I think the people who say animals can do these things are just full of crap.

Finding stuff in the dark looks like magic too until echo location is described.

Re:Dogs don't like sun in their eyes

[Savage-Rabbit]

Alternative explanation. Dogs face away from the sun while crapping.

Where is the raw data?

Annoyingly enough some of it is under the sole of my shoe.

soooo;

[jafac]

they won't poop on a magnetized carpet?

Re:soooo;

[bill_mcgonigle]

they won't poop on a magnetized carpet?

Oscillate the field and you've at least got an exercise device.

Re:Dogs don't like sun in their eyes

[Anonymous Coward]

Alternative explanation. Dogs face away from the sun while crapping.

Where is the raw data?

Annoyingly enough some of it is under the sole of my shoe.

May Dog have mercy on your sole...

And cats still don't give a sh**

[jslarve]

They really don't.

Re:I think my dog is broke

[Dunbal]

I usually use frontline to get rid of the bugs my dogs may have.

Re:Patent Pending

[roc97007]

So stop dicking around already and put a dog in a Faraday cage to see if we can get a dog that doesn't poop!

They tried that. It worked for about a week.

Then, the dog exploded.

Re:Patent Pending

[Savage-Rabbit]

So stop dicking around already and put a dog in a Faraday cage to see if we can get a dog that doesn't poop!

Faraday cage? If we put him in Schrödinger's box he'll poop and not poop simultaneously until you open the box and fix his state, or that of the poop.... or.... oh never mind.

Furry Crayon

[Tablizer]

I put a magnet on an RC toy car and got my dog to draw pictures on the lawn

Re:I smell bullshit

[Em Adespoton]

I have 2 dogs. When they pee at the same time, they always do it at right angles to each other...

One of them obviously likes flux closure domains....

I wonder if they did the study with multiple dogs peeing at the same time. This could be your opportunity to publish a follow-up PhD in Zoology!

I can verify it with my dog

[Chewbacon]

I take pictures of our dog pooping and send them to my wife has pranks. "Hey, look at what the baby's doing. :dog shitting picture:" So, I went through them and sure enough she's either facing north or south in the backyard pinching a loaf. She maybe off by a 10 degrees, but never east or west with the same margin.

Can you write a grant application ?

[drnb]

I wonder how many scientists who happen to own a dog are now writing grant applications.

Yet another horrible summary

[OneAhead]

(A draft of) the actual research article is freely available here. Key points not mentioned in the summary:
* the researchers concluded the magnetic field was responsible after observing the dogs lost their directional bias on days with geomagnetic storms, which is pretty cool IMHO
* the researchers did explicitly discuss bias due to the direction of the sun, and the measures they took to eliminate it from their study.

All in all, their findings are not to be taken as gospel (as always with original research), but if confirmed, they could spark a hunt for underlying biochemical mechanism.

Re:Yet another horrible summary

[radarskiy]

I propose that when someone comments "They should have considered X" when the article does consider X those of us who read the article should be allowed to punch that commenter in the face. They won't understand any response more subtle than that,

First time predicted in mammals?

[BringsApples]

But this was perhaps the first time that magnetic sensitivity was proven in dogs, and it was also the first time that a predictable behavioral reaction to the fluctuations in the magnetic field—magnetic storms, often as resulting from solar flares—was proven in a mammal.

I might be off topic here, but...
My house sits almost exactly diagonal to Earth's magnetic field, meaning that - unlike Solomon's Temple - only the corners of the house face North, East, South or West. I noticed that both of my kids wiggle around in their sleep in order to have their head face East. This happens in their beds, as well as on the floor. I told my wife what I thought, and we did some experiments:
Beds:
I moved both of the kids' beds to have the head face East, and both kids slept straight in their beds (they didn't wiggle out of that direction at all - we tested this for a few weeks. When I moved them back, the kids wiggled to have their heads face East again. So I moved the beds back to have the head face East and left them that way.

Floor:
On the weekend we would put a bunch of blankets down in the living room and pass out watching movies. The kids would always wiggle to have their heads facing East. I changed the blankets to have their heads facing West, but the kids would wiggle around to have their heads facing East.

I don't really find that either my wife or I wiggle around to face a certain direction, but I do find it easier to fall asleep if I move my couch to have my head facing East. Not sure if anyone else has ever had a similar experience.

Re:Patent Pending

[roc97007]

You're oversharing again.

Cows graze along a north-south axis

[Beeftopia]

Of Cows and Power Lines
Cattle seem to have an internal compass--one that's messed up by power lines
Posted 1 Jul 2009 | 4:00 GMT
IEEE Spectrum

A team of researchers from Germany and the Czech Republic has already discovered that, all factors being equal, cattle and two species of deer tend to align themselves along a north-south axis using some innate magnetic sense, and that this preferred alignment is disturbed when they graze under high-voltage power lines.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/the-smarter-grid/of-cows-and-power-lines

Re:I smell bullshit

[lagomorpha2]

Dogs are pack animals. What if this behavior developed as a way of making sure they were all at right angles to each other when they stopped to defecate as a way to watch for predators from all sides?