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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

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)

Original Submission