Earth’s magnetic field could provide a ‘universal reference’ for dogs and help them navigate back to their owners wherever they are, new study shows
- Researchers in the Czech Republic tested dogs’ navigation abilities off-leash
- They found that all dogs began their return trips to owners with a ‘compass run’
- This entailed a brief dash along the north-south geomagnetic field axis
- Researchers believe this short burst helps the dogs orient themselves
A dog’s ability to find its way home can sometimes seem supernatural, but a new study from the Czech Republic suggests it’s the result of their sensitivity to the Earth’s geomagnetic field.
A group of researchers from the Czech University of Life Sciences, Virginia Tech, and elsewhere, tracked the navigation abilities of 27 different dogs from 10 breeds over the course of three years.
They attached a GPS collar and camera mount to each dog and periodically would release from their leash during walks in a forest hunting area.
Researchers in the Czech Republic equipped dogs with GPS collars and cameras and tested their off-leash navigation abilities in a forest hunting area between 2014 and 2017
After being released, each dog ran deeper into the woods, and after a certain distance they were called back to their owners, at which point they all conducted what the researchers describe as a ‘compass run.’
This entailed a short dash of around 65 feet that closely tracked with with the Earth’s north-south geomagnetic axis, which researchers believed helped the dogs orient themselves for the return trip.
‘It is unlikely that the direct involvement of visual, olfactory or celestial cues can explain the highly stereotyped and consistent ~north south alignment of the compass run,’ the researchers explained in a summary of their findings in the online journal eLife.
‘For example, the forested habitat and dense vegetation of the study sites make visual piloting unreliable and, in many cases, not possible.’
After this initial compass run, dogs worked their way back relying on two particular forms of navigation.
The team tested 27 dogs from 10 different breeds, all of which appeared to complete a short ‘compass run’ before returning, a 65-foot dash along the Earth’s north-sough magnetic field axis
Around 59% of the dogs switched to scent-based navigation, what the researchers called ‘tracking,’ while another 32% relied on physical landmarks and other visual information, which the researchers described as ‘scouting.
8% of the dogs used a mix of tracking and scouting behaviors to make their way back through the forest to their owners.
The walks took place over a three year period between 2014 and 2017 and were conducted in a variety of different weather conditions, none of which appeared to have any influence on the dog’s behavior.
After completing the brief compass run, dogs used to main modes of navigation to return to their owners, a scent-driven method called ‘tracking,’ and a landmark and visual marker based method called ‘scouting’
Past research has shown dogs also mark their territory and defecate in alignment with the north-south geomagnetic axis.
One possible explanation for the sensitivity to geomagnetic fields could be a protein called cryptochrome-1, which has been shown to be influenced by the Earth’s magnetic fields.
A number of other animals have similar sensitivity to the Earth’s magnetic field, including blind mole-rats, whales, and even bees.
The researchers hope that future research could clarify more about how these sensitivities affect navigation, potentially by providing a ‘universal reference frame.’