Should be easy enough to falsify. Overpower the Earth's field with magnets and change the N-S orientation. See if they still shit along the new axis.
Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field
31–38 of 38 posts
Re: Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field
#32This might explain why the Australian Aboriginals didn't use left/right for directions[0], but instead used cardinal directions.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_direction#Cultures_no...
Re: Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field
#33The research seems credible, and they've convincingly excluded obvious things like that they're actually aligning with the sun. The striking thing is that they only align N-S when the declination of the magnetic field is stable, but when the declination is changing they don't align. The differences in magnetic field direction is only a few degrees, so it's amazing that a dog whose head is flopping around can detect s…
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Re: Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field
#34The research seems credible, and they've convincingly excluded obvious things like that they're actually aligning with the sun. The striking thing is that they only align N-S when the declination of the magnetic field is stable, but when the declination is changing they don't align. The differences in magnetic field direction is only a few degrees, so it's amazing that a dog whose head is flopping around can detect s…
>they've convincingly excluded obvious things like that they're actually aligning with the sun. I don't know - for my taste, to exclude alignment to the sun they would have had to keep the dogs in a closed environment with an artificial light source. After all, even with clouds present you know where the sun is (and you can still get sunburned etc.) It also rings my "skeptical" alarm bells when they cite the "origina…
They've excluded it by showing that dogs line up with local magnetic fields even when the sun is in various positions.
Re: Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
>they've convincingly excluded obvious things like that they're actually aligning with the sun. I don't know - for my taste, to exclude alignment to the sun they would have had to keep the dogs in a closed environment with an artificial light source. After all, even with clouds present you know where the sun is (and you can still get sunburned etc.) It also rings my "skeptical" alarm bells when they cite the "origina…
They've excluded it by showing that dogs line up with local magnetic fields even when the sun is in various positions.
Yeah, but does the sun's position have any effect on the magnetic field?
Re: Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field
#36It explains those stories that make the news now and again of dogs traveling thousands of miles home.
Re: Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems so awesome! Here's an article describing the research and proposed mechanism: http://phys.org/news/2011-01-predation-foxes-aided-earth-mag...
Thanks for that! The last paragraph makes it seem like every animal except humans can sense the magnetic field. I'm slightly jealous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoception#In_humans
It also is unlikely that humans would be an exception here. However, my money still is on "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". Animals may be capable of magnetoception, but I don't think that has been proven yet.
For example, those foxes could try and minimize their shadows or changes in their shadows. They might do that using an internal clock. Alternatively, they might be able to perceive the polarization of the sky, and use that to guess where the sun is (note the high variation in successful angles)
Re: Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field
#38I was just about to buy a hall effect sensor, but now I just need a dog! That's for saving me $20 OP.
Unless you already have a dog, I don't think that will be a net cost savings.