科學家發(fā)現(xiàn),，正在休息或吃草的鹿群和牛群傾向于按照地球磁感線排列,。已知鳥,、海龜和鮭魚都可以在遷徙中利用磁場導航,，而在哺乳動物中間，幾種嚙齒動物和一種蝙蝠也擁有磁羅盤,。
Sabine Begall及其同事提出,，他們的研究提供了證據(jù)表明大型哺乳動物也能感知地球磁場。這組科學家調(diào)查了Google Earth上全世界308個牧場和草原的8510頭牛的照片,，以及在捷克共和國的超過225個地點實地收集的2974只鹿的數(shù)據(jù),。他們的分析表明這些動物在吃草或休息的時候傾向于面朝磁北或磁南。由于不同地點的風的方向和陽光有很大的不同,，這組科學家得出結論說地球磁場可能是一個共同因素,，以某種方式影響著這些動物。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
PNAS published August 25, 2008, doi:10.1073/pnas.0803650105
Magnetic alignment in grazing and resting cattle and deer
Sabine Begall, Jaroslav Červený, Julia Neef, Oldřich Vojtčch, and Hynek Burda
We demonstrate by means of simple, noninvasive methods (analysis of satellite images, field observations, and measuring “deer beds” in snow) that domestic cattle (n = 8,510 in 308 pastures) across the globe, and grazing and resting red and roe deer (n = 2,974 at 241 localities), align their body axes in roughly a north–south direction. Direct observations of roe deer revealed that animals orient their heads northward when grazing or resting. Amazingly, this ubiquitous phenomenon does not seem to have been noticed by herdsmen, ranchers, or hunters. Because wind and light conditions could be excluded as a common denominator determining the body axis orientation, magnetic alignment is the most parsimonious explanation. To test the hypothesis that cattle orient their body axes along the field lines of the Earth's magnetic field, we analyzed the body orientation of cattle from localities with high magnetic declination. Here, magnetic north was a better predictor than geographic north. This study reveals the magnetic alignment in large mammals based on statistically sufficient sample sizes. Our findings open horizons for the study of magnetoreception in general and are of potential significance for applied ethology (husbandry, animal welfare). They challenge neuroscientists and biophysics to explain the proximate mechanisms.
