Google Earth Helps Scientists Find Cow Compass

It turns out that cows have a tendency to point north and south, just like a compass needle. Other animals also do this, but scientists didn't realize that cows came with this innate sense of the Earth's magnetic field.

Google Earth images helped scientists discover this phenomenon. They were able to view the satellite images to see the tendency of cows to align themselves along the north-south access more often than not. Even though this "almost certainly has no practical applications," as the Los Angeles Times puts it, it does show the value of having a virtual globe at your fingertips.

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