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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 22 2020, @09:59AM   Printer-friendly
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)


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @12:51PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @12:51PM (#1024916)

    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.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @02:06PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @02:06PM (#1024943)

    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

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday July 22 2020, @09:06PM (#1025122)

      "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

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday July 22 2020, @09:04PM (#1025120)

    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]