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from the what-happens-when-you-give-a-dog-an-MRI? dept.
The real reason dogs always find their way home - breakthrough study:
Earth's magnetic field may be harnessed by dogs to help them navigate, researchers have revealed. A group of researchers from the Czech University of Life Sciences and Virginia Tech tracked the navigation abilities of 27 different dogs from 10 breeds over three years.
The scientists attached a GPS collar and camera mount to each dog and periodically released them from their leash during walks in a forested area.
After being released, each dog ran deeper into the woods, and after a certain distance they were called back to their owners.
At this point they all conducted what researchers described as a 'compass run.'
This entailed a short dash of approximately 65ft (20m) that closely tracked with the Earth's north-south geomagnetic axis.
[...] Researchers are now convinced this helped the dogs orient themselves for the return trip.
The researchers wrote in a summary of their findings in the online journal eLife: "It is unlikely that the direct involvement of visual, olfactory or celestial cues can explain the highly stereotyped and consistent ~north south alignment of the compass run.
"For example, the forested habitat and dense vegetation of the study sites make visual piloting unreliable and, in many cases, not possible."
Journal Reference:
Hrag Pailian, Susan E. Carey, Justin Halberda, et al. Age and Species Comparisons of Visual Mental Manipulation Ability as Evidence for its Development and Evolution [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64666-1)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fliptop on Wednesday July 22 2020, @10:41AM (5 children)
I've had dogs my whole life and have wondered about this a lot. I had one dog in particular, "Chuck," we were separated four times and each time he found his way back to me. One of the trips he had to take to get home was about 5 miles and included crossing an 8-lane highway. I should write a journal story about that excursion, it's quite a story.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @11:10AM (4 children)
There was a study a few years ago about why dogs walk in a circle just before pooping. They line up with the magnetic field, usually end up nose pointed north or south... to drop a turd. I never noticed our dogs doing that until I read that story.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday July 22 2020, @12:13PM (3 children)
What would be the point of that? Are dog turds magnetic enough that it helps with bowel movements?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @12:51PM
From 2014...
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/dogs-poop-in-alignment-with-earths-magnetic-field-study-finds [pbs.org]
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Wednesday July 22 2020, @03:49PM (1 child)
If other animals also have an internal compass, they might be more likely to attack from a particular direction. Lining up in a certain way while pooping (a moment of vulnerability) would confer an evolutionary advantage to dogs that do so.
It could also just be part of the pack instinct which also confers advantages: the other dogs are lining up like this, I'd better line up too.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @04:19PM
Yes, but if lining up like that did serve as an advantage, then attacking in a less predictable manner would also.
More likely, it's just something they do so that the bedding material that they're sleeping on is more to their liking or something similarly banal.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 22 2020, @11:32AM (17 children)
Last time I was "lost" in a 800 acre forest, I found my way back based on these (non-magnetic) principles:
1) there's a creek running vaguely parallel to the road - when at the creek, uphill goes toward the road.
2) the land flattens out for quite a stretch, but... moss grows more densely on the north side of the trees. That same moss-relative bearing you had on the creek-slope, continue that and you'll continue toward the road.
3) found the road, 50/50 shot as to which way to the truck, and that loooong straight section lacking truck is a pretty good clue that the truck is just around the bend in the other direction.
These days, the pocket GPS makes it all too easy, but you don't really need it for most simple navigation tasks in "forested habitat with dense vegetation" - and if you have a decent memory, forest with dense vegetation also contains a LOT of unique visual clues. That 800 acres was a pine farm, so there was a whole lot of same-same in there which made it easier to get lost, if you didn't think about the obvious clues.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday July 22 2020, @12:11PM (4 children)
So... are you suggesting the dog followed a similar logic?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @01:05PM
I think dogs can also rely on their sense of smell as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @01:58PM
Why wouldn't they? They wouldn't have access to a map, but they would have some memory of where they'd been.
Using magnetism is not something that really explains it very well. As anybody who hasn't forgotten how maps and compasses work, I can tell you that just knowing where magnetic north is doesn't really help you that much when you're trying to find something that isn't along the arc that takes you there. Especially, if you're someplace where you have to detour around obstacles.
You'd need something else to go along with that, like memory of what you saw and experienced on your way, in order to find your way back. Or, you'd really need a map and some landmarks to use for triangulation.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 22 2020, @02:20PM (1 child)
I'm suggesting that the dogs, in addition to having a magnetic compass sense, are likely following navigation clues obvious to them that we are potentially unaware of - scent being one, but there are probably other things that are just "well, duh" from a dog's perspective.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by hendrikboom on Wednesday July 22 2020, @08:01PM
It helps to look backwards when you are heading back, so things will look like what you saw on the way there.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday July 22 2020, @12:54PM (6 children)
note: the above includes things that are true only in the northern hemisphere.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Informative) by HiThere on Wednesday July 22 2020, @01:45PM (4 children)
You're reading the comment too explicitly. E.g. that "moss grows more thickly on the North side of trees" is only true in some places, but if you're in one of those places it's a reasonable guide. The point is that most places have local distinctive features, you just need to notice and remember them.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @02:02PM (2 children)
Indeed, around here moss tends to grow on all sides of trees, you'd have marginally more luck paying attention to where the snowfields are as they tend to be bigger on the North side of the ridge.
But, really, a stick combined with an analog watch is probably the best thing other than a compass or GPS unit. That is, provided it's a clear day and you have visible sun to work with.
That being said, around here, the trees get extremely dense and it can be incredibly hard to see far enough to make out any landmarks. But, you do still run into landmarks and in most cases, if you follow the slope of the terrain downwards, you eventually will come across some sort of a town or road. The main issue is that you also may run into a cliff which prevents further travel. But, OTOH, a cliff will usually give you a nice view of the area.
The place my Dad used to take me camping when I was a kid had a wet area that if followed would eventually lead all the way back to the next town over from where I lived. It would have taken many weeks to walk it, but there were a number of towns between there and the starting point.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 22 2020, @02:26PM (1 child)
We had 20 acres thick with 100 year old palmetto bushes. Young palmetto bushes are like little palm trees that don't get much above 4', after 100 years, they move their 4' heads up on trunks that can reach 8' high, putting you in an understory where you can't see much at all above you and all you see at eye level and ground is a tangle of trunks that obscures all vision beyond about 10-20'. Luckily, there were powerlines overhead which you could make out through the fronds, but my wife would still freak out from the "hopelessly lost" feeling, even though you know all you have to do is follow the power lines...
Got "lost" in Alaska once, but we got there by hiking up a creek, so it wasn't too hard to just go downhill until we found the creek again.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @04:23PM
The reminds me of the one time I was on the path to being lost. Going through an area with extremely dense weeds that were probably 6-7' high and not sturdy enough to support any weight. The only reason I didn't get fully lost was that I heard somebody that had been behind me bringing up the rear who was on the right path.
I probably would have managed to find the trail again once I hit the edge of the weeds, but it would have taken a rather long time and hopefully there would have been a reasonable way of making it back around until I met up with the trail again. This is a really good reason to have a whistle with you if you're hiking, you never know when you're going to hit an area where visibility is zip and it's better than having to yell for hours on end.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday July 22 2020, @04:49PM
I moved from Seattle to Denver a few years ago and at first I would get lost sometimes because the mountains were on the wrong side.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Wednesday July 22 2020, @03:53PM
Dogs in the Northern hemisphere find there way back home.
In the southern hemisphere, they get more lost. Proof its the magnets what does it.
Do the poops find their way home too?
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday July 22 2020, @04:45PM (4 children)
I grew up in WA where this trick doesn't work because moss is everywhere.
Now I live in CO where this trick doesn't work because there's no moss anywhere.
You must live in the moss Goldilocks zone!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 22 2020, @06:07PM (3 children)
I have only used the moss trick in time of need in Georgia. Sometimes it's not moss, just some other phenomena that happens more "on the dark side" of trees than on the side that gets daily direct sunshine.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @06:17PM (2 children)
Assuming you've got a relatively sunny day, you're much better off using the sun and some sticks to help you reckon your way around. But, really, if you're that lost, you're best staying put so that people can find you.
That's assuming people know where you're going, around here we lose mushroom hunters from time to time because they disappear and nobody knows where they were foraging. I'm sure some of them got hurt and couldn't walk out. Some may have fallen down an old mineshaft or where there was a void in the ground below them for some other reason. It happens from time to time, especially out in the rainforest.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 22 2020, @09:00PM (1 child)
Tree shadows work really well for a relative compass heading, if the sky's not overcast...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @10:20PM
To an extent, but only if you have the right density of them.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday July 22 2020, @12:09PM (2 children)
Now to definitely prove it, stick a large neodymium magnet up the dog's bum and watch it go round and round frantically.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday July 22 2020, @04:52PM
So....a normal Wednesday then?
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday July 22 2020, @07:19PM
And since other dogs will be attracted to the motion, they'll sniff the first dog's butt and start following it in circles too.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @12:51PM (3 children)
Slashdot has an article on this
https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/07/18/1920254/dogs-may-use-earths-magnetic-field-to-navigate [slashdot.org]
The comments are interesting.
I don't really think this study is very definitive at all. People in the comments have pointed out that it's more likely the dog uses either the orientation of the sun or its own shadow to direct itself. Perhaps the dog can even use moonlight at night too to help it navigate (I imagine these studies were done during the day though)?
If they really want to test it they should perhaps create a strong artificial magnetic field to see if it can affect the dog's navigation. But this study is not really doing much.
Perhaps put the dog in a room, put a cup at each corner, put a treat underneath one of the cups, and turn on a strong artificial magnetic field where the treat is at and see if the magnetic field helps the dog find the treat any faster. Repeat the experiment without the magnetic field. Repeat it again with the magnetic field. Repeat it again without. Rinse and repeat multiple times. Statistically compare how long it takes the dog to find the treat with the field's guidance and without.
Point being is there are multiple ways to get a more rigorous study than this, this study isn't very rigorous at all and it's amazing that it even deserves any funding whatsoever.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @02:06PM (1 child)
Yes, not to mention using light rays themselves. It can be very difficult when there's clouds or there are trees over head, but the suns rays are a very helpful addition to whatever other method of navigation you're using.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 22 2020, @09:06PM
"Sunstone" crystals help to re-construct the orientation of sunlight on overcast days - they were quite valuable in ancient seafaring days.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 22 2020, @09:04PM
They've also found magnetic/compass sense in some birds - makes sense from an evolutionary perspective: migrating in circles doesn't increase chances of survival or breeding much.
I think some humans have some limited subconscious magnetic sense - nothing that we are strongly aware of. I get something akin to a vague numb feeling in the vicinity of MRI machines - nothing dramatic, but sort of like a little "color" has drained from my balance sense.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by looorg on Wednesday July 22 2020, @01:53PM (1 child)
Here I was thinking that they just remembered where they got their last free meal and someone would pet them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 23 2020, @12:18AM
This isn't funny, it's god damn "insightful/brilliant/informative."
Source: I am a dog.
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Friday July 24 2020, @12:58PM
Show me the compass organ. Show me the study when they they attached a magnet to the dogs collar that any noticeable change was observed.
Explain why moving in a N-S line would ever be useful for navigation? At least if they moved east-west you might say that they were triangulating their latitude.
Explain why even having a compass reading would help get to a calling voice in the distance?
It seems to me that developing an organ is pretty hard work. And just looking up or sniffing a few trees would probably work just as well. Also this relying on local visual/perhaps olfactory cues would explain the "compass run" far better, as it would provide additional data for orientation.