| Title |
Dogs are sensitive to small variations of the Earth’s magnetic field
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Frontiers in Zoology, December 2013
|
| DOI | 10.1186/1742-9994-10-80 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Vlastimil Hart, Petra Nováková, Erich Pascal Malkemper, Sabine Begall, Vladimír Hanzal, Miloš Ježek, Tomáš Kušta, Veronika Němcová, Jana Adámková, Kateřina Benediktová, Jaroslav Červený, Hynek Burda |
| Abstract |
Several mammalian species spontaneously align their body axis with respect to the Earth's magnetic field (MF) lines in diverse behavioral contexts. Magnetic alignment is a suitable paradigm to scan for the occurrence of magnetosensitivity across animal taxa with the heuristic potential to contribute to the understanding of the mechanism of magnetoreception and identify further functions of magnetosensation apart from navigation. With this in mind we searched for signs of magnetic alignment in dogs. We measured the direction of the body axis in 70 dogs of 37 breeds during defecation (1,893 observations) and urination (5,582 observations) over a two-year period. After complete sampling, we sorted the data according to the geomagnetic conditions prevailing during the respective sampling periods. Relative declination and intensity changes of the MF during the respective dog walks were calculated from daily magnetograms. Directional preferences of dogs under different MF conditions were analyzed and tested by means of circular statistics. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2,504 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 395 | 16% |
| Japan | 222 | 9% |
| United Kingdom | 147 | 6% |
| France | 63 | 3% |
| Canada | 55 | 2% |
| Spain | 49 | 2% |
| Australia | 23 | <1% |
| Germany | 23 | <1% |
| India | 15 | <1% |
| Other | 250 | 10% |
| Unknown | 1262 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 2260 | 90% |
| Scientists | 153 | 6% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 65 | 3% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 26 | 1% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 360 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 6 | 2% |
| France | 4 | 1% |
| United Kingdom | 4 | 1% |
| Germany | 3 | <1% |
| Italy | 2 | <1% |
| Ireland | 1 | <1% |
| Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
| Hungary | 1 | <1% |
| Sweden | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 6 | 2% |
| Unknown | 331 | 92% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 74 | 21% |
| Researcher | 70 | 19% |
| Student > Bachelor | 44 | 12% |
| Student > Master | 35 | 10% |
| Professor | 19 | 5% |
| Other | 62 | 17% |
| Unknown | 56 | 16% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 121 | 34% |
| Physics and Astronomy | 23 | 6% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 17 | 5% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 16 | 4% |
| Psychology | 15 | 4% |
| Other | 100 | 28% |
| Unknown | 68 | 19% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3278. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 March 2024.
All research outputs
#1,864
of 25,729,842 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Zoology
#1
of 700 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#5
of 322,045 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Zoology
#1
of 22 outputs
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