This article caught my eye today!
[url]Scientists observe dogs relieving themselves, discover something amazing - CSMonitor.com[/url]
For a dog, when nature calls, it might also be doing something more subtle.
A team of Czech and German researchers have found that, all else being equal, when a dog wants to go powder its rhinarium, it will tend to do so while standing in alignment with the Earth's magnetic field.
The two-year study, which involved 37 dog owners, 70 dogs, and 7,475 instances of the animals relieving themselves outside while their owners dutifully took notes, is the first demonstration of magnetic sensitivity in dogs. The authors write that their findings, which appeared last week in the journal Frontiers in Zoology, "open new horizons for biomagnetic research."
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The results: When our planet's magnetic field is quiet, dogs are more likely to do their business while standing along a north-south axis. Indeed, the data suggested that the animals were actively avoiding the east-west axis.
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The scientists admit that they don't know the reason for the dogs' apparent polar inclination, or what's going through those canine minds as they circle around before assuming the position.
Does anyone here have any idea why this might be so? 🙂
My dog doesn't seem to have a grid-reference preference. North-South, or East-West, she sniffs out other messages left by other canines (or her favourite - deer) and adds to the story by doing what she needs to do in the same spot. If, heaven forbid, a fox has chanced by, and also left a message in the 'storybook pile', she goes nuts and rolls in it and then leaves her chapter!!!! Yeuck!
I would say that 37 dog owners and 70 dogs is not really a conclusive study.
It's just as possible that the owners are sensitive to compass directions and/or the earths magnetic field and the dogs are just facing the particular direction because of how the owners are holding them on the leads.
Without seeing the actual details of the study itself, and how they eliminated other factors, it's hard to comment and how 'true' it is.
However, it's not the first time that animals of various species have been believed to have some ability to orient themselves using the magnetic field.... it's believed that many birds have this ability, especially for the purposes of migration.
When it comes down to it, we're all made of energy, and we all have an electrical circuit/nervous system flowing around our body, so although it would be subtle, there's undoubtedly going to be some interaction between our own electrical field and that of the Earth's. I guess the question is, how well can any species be aware of this subtle energy interaction? 😉
All Love and Reiki Hugs
.. it's believed that many birds have this ability, especially for the purposes of migration.
Not just believed. It has been demonstrated that all birds as well as bees, fruit flies and turtles exibit magnetoception and bacteria have been observed exhibiting magnetotaxis.