Re: [Phys-L] animal magnetism?

["Anthony Lapinski" <Anthony_Lapinski@pds.org>]

I believe moss is about sunlight and shadows.

I get why birds can follow the field lines as they "freely fly." But dogs
and other animals are generally fixed to the ground, where frictional
forces dominate.


Phys-L@Phys-L.org writes:
> Perhaps this explains why moss tend to grow on the North side of a tree
>
> :-)
>
> Bob at PC
> ________________________________________
> From: Phys-l [phys-l-bounces@phys-l.org] on behalf of John Clement
> [clement@hal-pc.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 11:03 PM
> To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org; betwys1@sbcglobal.net
> Subject: Re: [Phys-L] animal magnetism?
>
> Could it be a wind effect?  Since the wind tends to blow from W to E this
> would carry the scent to the side and predators of dogs would be more
> easily
> sensed than if the wind were blowing into the face.  Of course one might
> expect that a "tail" wind would be ideal.  But perhaps the behavior is
> left
> over and no longer has any survival value.  Being able so sense the
> magnetic
> field does have some advantage in being able to navigate.  I understand
> there are societies where they use absolute compass directions rather than
> referring to L or R and people in these groups always know the direction
> of
> the compass points.  Knowing this may be partially due to humans being
> able
> to sense the magnitic lines.  They pointed out in the article that there
> may
> be a magnetic sense in humans.
>
> John M. Clement
> Houston, TX
>
> > On 1/14/2014 1:46 PM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:
> > > I've heard of birds flying along Earth's magnetic field lines for
> > > navigation, but I am baffled by this recent story below:
> > www.livescience.com/42317-dogs-poop-along-north-south-magnetic-lines.h
> > > tml
> > True, there are interesting questions of purpose and
> > mechanism, but the leading question would concern the
> > survival value of such orientation.
> > Given that dogs sample the odors of other animals, what
> > competitive advantage might be gained in this way?
> >
> > Brian Whatcott Altus OK
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