Google Earth Reveals Sixth Sense of Cattle, Deer

After studying Google Earth satellite images of cattle herds, along with their own observations of roe deer, the researchers realized that the animals routinely stood along a north-south axis.  "The magnetic field is the only common and most likely factor responsible for the observed alignment," write the researchers in a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Our analysis … clearly provides the crucial proof in favor of the Earth’s magnetic field being the responsive cue."They think the ability evolved to help guide the animals’ ancestors during migrations (which could explain why the results are stronger in deer than cattle, which having been domesticated and restrained no longer migrate.) web link