The Net and some Blogs have had a recent field day discussing the ostensible fact that herds of grazing cattle normally seem to align themselves along a north/south axis corresponding to Earth’s geomagnetic fields. Now, giving a new meaning to the term “animal magnetism,” it seems proximity to electric power lines changes their behavior. When cattle are grazing near power lines that emit a low-level electromagnetic field, they face in different directions, abandoning their normal north/south preference. Researchers used satellite images of cattle and their fellow ruminants deer to gather data that suggests that low-frequency magnetic fields disrupts the animals’ tendency to align themselves along a north/south axis. The question remains as to what are the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for this seemingly offbeat animal behavior. The researchers’ findings were published on Monday, March 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, andthe article can be found online.
Electromagnetism and Bossie
