It seems that cattle and deer tend to graze while standing in a north-south direction. No one had ever noticed this until some researchers used Google Earth to study the question.
The researchers think it has something to do with Earth’s magnetic field.
(Hat tip: Spectre)
and 
. You can also watch it on 
This observation was in Huckleberry Finn. I’m probably not the first one to make this comment.
Strangely I had a professor in grad school who once pointed this out to us while on a study abroad trip in England. We all thought he was kind of crazy for it, but science has vindicated him in the end. It’s a shame he left biology to study education many years ago or he might have gotten a paper out of his pre-Google Earth observations.
I bring a cow with me each time I’m in the wilderness so I can find my way home.
This would be great fodder for an ad for Spotted Cow (the best beer in the us).
Have they determined if it’s magnetic north or true north?
I have a dog that used to run away a lot. She would almost always run north.
If they graze facing east-west, they will either have the sun in their eyes or their food will be in their shadow.
From Huckleberry Finn:
“If fifteen cows is browsing on a hillside, how many of them eats with their heads pointed the same direction?”
“The whole fifteen, mum.”
“Well, I reckon you have lived in the country. I thought maybe you was trying to hocus me again…”
It seems more likely that the north south orientation is because of the direction of the prevailing wind.
probably the ones experimented on are from same mother…:-