Dogs poop in alignment with Earth’s magnetic field. It seems almost unbelievable, but it’s true. Why is it that dogs poop in alignment with magnetic fields? Is it a primitive form of OCD, or just a natural coincidence that we stupid, nonobservant humans have practically ignored since we domesticated the family pet?
I must admit, I’ve never really paid much attention to what mans best friend does when he is doing his business. My immediate concern is that it is being carried on outside, and it won’t leave a landmine to tread on at a later time. The only thing that I did observe while he was crapping is that he doesn’t really enjoy an audience, and who can blame him? Maybe he just has a shy bowel, because he really has no problem with urinating in public. Perhaps, just perhaps, the leering eyes focused on him pooping is distracting his alignment with the Earth’s magnetic field.
Let’s look at it from our normal perspective. The dog needs a poop, so you send it outside. The dog wanders around the yard, after standing at the door for what seems an eternity, nose down looking for the best spot to dump his load. What’s he waiting for, right? That patch of grass is as good as the next, but hopefully he will just wander next door this time to evacuate his bowels. Damn they seem fussy for an animal that poops outside. But it all makes sense now, thanks to some bored scientists, with wheelbarrows full of cash, who had nothing better to do that watch dogs dump turds.
It’s been long known that migratory animals use the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation. Animals such as birds, whales and even bees rely on this amazing ability to move from one location to another on a regular basis. But it was never thought that canines had this very same skill. That was until very recently, when researchers in Germany and the Czech Republic spent two years studying the bathroom habits of dogs.
Yep, that’s right. Two years, 70 dogs, 5,582 pee breaks and 1,893 doody stops and they made this amazing discovery. But before proclaiming a massive scientific breakthrough that would without a doubt alter the history of the world forever, they had to rule out some other factors. These were things such as wind, angle of the sun and the time of day, the only remaining factor at work was Earth’s magnetic field. I can imagine the researchers running down the streets like Archimedes did 2,000 years ago shouting “eureka!”
When the magnetic field was stable and not influenced by the sun’s magnetic field or solar winds, the dogs exhibited a real preference for pooping along the North-South axis, completely ignoring the East-West axis. This of course had to exclude other factors such as fences, leashes and trees. When the magnetic field was unstable they really didn’t care where they went and did their business. This led the researchers to come to the conclusion that dogs poop in alignment with Earth’s magnetic field. But it’s not known if the dogs actually felt the pull of the magnetic poles.
So the next time you go trekking, maybe take your dog instead of a compass. He could potentially lead you to safety, and provide nourishment if he doesn’t.
