Comments on: Non-Spherical Magnetic Cows!

By: NickP

NickP — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:14:43 +0000

This may be the right occasion to reexamine the navigational practices of the Vikings. Perhaps the etymology of L’Anse aux Meadows really should reference fields of grass instead of jellyfish, since clearly the Vikings were seeking fodder for their quadrupedal compasses when they landed in Newfoundland.

By: danajohnson0

danajohnson0 — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:28:18 +0000

I would like to defend my supposition with one additional observation, as the details are accumulative when an argument is finalized. Humans use the same technique to dress themselves, warming the backsides greater than the front, as a sign of polarity in coping. Not non-symmetric, axial, as would be expected of most tetra-pods.
-:–:–

By: danajohnson0

danajohnson0 — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:08:59 +0000

As the greatest intellectual danger a cow can suffer is the terrible North wind of blizzards, I can’t be much confused. We know that humans are made ‘special’ to think, with all other many legged things not quite so effortful at intelligent behavior….lets see…
The greatest mass exposure for warming in the comfort weather would be N/S or S/N, with the head to North in the low angle sun of the cold winter, still the better statistical preference, while habituated from the bad weather periods.
In the high summer, the North facing animal still avoids the sun on the head preferentially.
I have always believed this process was at fault for weakening the survival skills of the Dinosaur types of the past- a migration process gone bad statistically, additional to other reasons. It is claimed that many dinosaurs commonly used the head and nasal passages for cooling mechanisms, requiring they be facing the North preferentially during the year, or alternating E/W during the days travel path,avoiding the sun angle, in a reversal of paths without gain during weather stress.
Now, am I thinking just like a cow, or not?
http://www.cowswithguns.com/homepage.html
site included as a link at top to quell the stressed humans, as again, they are sure the ‘other’ group has the upper hand intellectually, and we must therefore dwell on the natural.
Why do humans prefer north facing homes? Cool idea, or not?
My real thinking here:
http://www.marsroverblog.com/forum.html

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:37:35 +0000

Its time to study the direction the grasses and forbs are leaning, likely towards the sun. If that is towards the south, the yummy seed heads would be easier to get at while facing north.

By: Jonathan Vos Post

Jonathan Vos Post — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:24:27 +0000

At last, we can do perturbation analysis as a function of the radius of spherical cows, in our grazing/search for the Unified Field Theory (original meaning of “field”).

August 17, 2008
Just right for the garden: a mini-cow
Miniature cattle farming is catching on with families trying to stay ahead of rising food prices
Chris Gourlay

It’s the little cow with a big future. Rising supermarket prices are persuading hundreds of families to turn their back gardens into mini-ranches stocked with miniature cattle.

Registrations of the most popular breed, the Dexter, have doubled since the millennium and websites are sprouting up offering “the world’s most efficient, cutest and tastiest cows”.

For between £200 and £2,000, people can buy a cow that stands no taller than a large German shepherd dog, gives 16 pints of milk a day that can be drunk unpasteurised, keeps the grass “mown” and will be a family pet for years before ending up in the freezer. …

By: John R Ramsden

John R Ramsden — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:17:24 +0000

“My sister is a cowherd (I kid you not) and she shared my intuition that cows tend to stand with their arse to the wind.”

As cows don’t use loo paper, maybe another advantage for them in standing with backs to the sun and/or wind is that this will tend to dry their hindquarters quickest. Also the sun’s UV radiation will help sterilize any mess round the cow’s tail, and maybe even dry out and kill parasite eggs laid by things like flies.

By: swety

swety — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:16:09 +0000

I agree with Mark. Truly this is a news paper article about a study .I love the title of this post.

By: Jolly Bloger

Jolly Bloger — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:16:28 +0000

No one has mentioned predators… What are the wolves doing? A deer’s number one concern – above grazing, above body heat, above migration, and way above sun in his eyes, is avoiding wolves. Predators will attack from downwind, so as not to be detected. I have also heard that they will minimize their silhouette when standing on a hill (no idea if this is actually true). What other tactics could predators be using related to sun position or magnetic direction that the cows and deer could be watching or smelling for?

The problem with that theory is that cows don’t really have to worry about wolves. Any anti-predator behaviour would have been artificially bred out long ago. Then again, so would migratory behaviour, as they don’t have to worry about that either. What possible selection pressures do cows currently face, that they share with deer, that could explain the orientation?

By: Lab Lemming

Lab Lemming — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:29:40 +0000

I have always wondered why it is that cows grazing under power lines oscillate 60 times per second…

By: bane

bane — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:15:05 +0000

Ugh, that should be “Saying an explanation is parsimonious is basically applying Occam’s razor without mentioning any competing more complicated theories.”

By: bane

bane — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:14:05 +0000

Alex,

“parsimonious” with the meaning of “using as few resources as remotely possible” (although often applied to money) is frequently used in learning theory. Saying an explanation is parsimonious is basically applying Occam’s razor with mentioning competing more complicated theories.

The big thing here is that a paper that’s an interesting quick-and-dirty experiment’s write-up, which might be followed up with more monetarily expensive equipment if a grant could be obtained, has been picked up by all sorts of general media and presented so that it seems like a bold, definitive statement.

By: Nathan Myers

Nathan Myers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:09:02 +0000

“Parsimonious” refers to the grant committee. It’s a subtle hint reminding them that only a little more money would have produced much more compelling results. Unfortunately grant committees are completely deaf to subtlety.

By: daisy rose

daisy rose — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:37:45 +0000

Alex,

Maybe so – but I looked at photographs of cows I took – and they were all pretty much facing either north or south; to my surprise mostly north – The cattle farmer said they lie any which way there is room.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:57:55 +0000

In the orignal report on this story as reported around the world, the explanation is given as being ” parsimonious”.

No one apparently noticed this crucial fact. The word really means stingy with money. Nothing to do with cows or magnetism. Maybe this misuse of english is a clue that the whole story is a prank on the scientific world.

By: PeterS

PeterS — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:36:54 +0000

I don’t think you can rule out the linear nature of their food as a contributing factor

By: Sili

Sili — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:04:52 +0000

My sister is a cowherd (I kid you not) and she shared my intuition that cows tend to stand with their arse to the wind.

The sun hypothesis only works if all aerial photographs are taken within a few hours of noon. Does anyone know if that’s the case?

But of course the next step is to find a goodish number of freerange farms, put up some webcams and equip the cattle the strong magnets (cowmagnets would indeed prolly be enough, but they’d prolly have to be fitted externally is the experiment is to last long enough to reach statistical significance).

I’m looking forward to the next batch of results.

By: Moshe

Moshe — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:03:13 +0000

Actually, seems to me this demonstrates one of the weaknesses of evolution, the fact that it can stretched to support non-quantitative “just so stories”, to explain pretty much any fact (or its converse). I can certainly think about a few stories, at the same level of detail, explaining the cows aligning in the east-west direction, or in no direction at all.

By: Jonathan Vos Post

Jonathan Vos Post — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:44:37 +0000

When the magnets are switched on at LHC, do nearby cows wander across the landscape, or give milk which is better for making string cheese?

By: Contrary

Contrary — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:44:08 +0000

Magnetic North deviates from True North (by about 12 degrees in Montana) so you would think that if there *were* any magnetic effect, it would show as a bias from True North, increasing as you travel up through Canada.

Unless they are simply aligning with the local power grid or fenceline. Birds align as part of their flocking behavior, herds may have a migratory directional sense.

By: rob

rob — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:20:02 +0000

i read in one blurb about this study that the cows didn’t just face north, they faced *magnetic north*, which varies depending on where the cows are.

i wonder if you can use a cow to attach things to your refrigerator?