Does fox use magnetic north to detect prey under three feet of snow?

_{Denyse O'Leary

November 29, 2013

Animal minds, News}

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Further to “What constitutes ‘woo’ (Rupert Sheldrake edition)”:

At one time, it was doubtless simple just to say, “It can’t really do that; that’s just an old-timers’ legend” or “Its hearing is really good; that’s all.” But catching it on film suggests another possibility…

Comments

SelvaRajan i will take them on. more likely they pounce forward on their legs and its unrelated to earth magnetic juice. I don't have confidence in researchers who want and need to find a new cool thing. The dogs are just smelling and hearing their prey. Thats all. nothing to do with any jazz about magnets. Its as likely to say the prey is moving in a direction upon hearing the threat. They are influence by the magnetic goo and the foxes just follow them as they move. This is not so either. Who's paying these people!! I would rather pay the foxes and for papers from them.Robert Byers_{December 1, 2013
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This YEC thinks bears are a created "kind" seperate from canines. Not sure why I felt the need to comment aside from pure contentiousness though! :-)johnp_{November 30, 2013
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What some of us find really interesting is, why don't they always pounce northeast? Do they fail to notice the pattern? Are there problems with realigning their direction (= the fox KNOWS he is much less likely to get his lunch while pouncing west. But he reckons that, if he moved first without pouncing, he would certainly lose the mouse, due to startling it back into a burrow. Now, he might be right or wrong about the overall catch rate, but most animals are very set in their ways when their dinner is the stake; they don't run tests on the question. ;) )News_{November 30, 2013
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here's selva's link: "Could the foxes be taking their direction from the environment? ?ervený thinks not. He found that the animals leapt in the same direction regardless of the time of day, season of year, cloud cover, or wind direction. ?ervený thinks that the only remaining explanation is that foxes align their pounces to the Earth’s magnetic field." http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/01/11/foxes-use-the-earths-magnetic-field-as-a-targeting-system/#.UpoFbeL4Lmsbornagain77_{November 30, 2013
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use their powers of scent and hearing. its probably the smell and then mere listening that does it.
Cerveny and his team spent over two years studying wild red foxes. The team recorded almost 600 mousing jumps, performed by 84 foxes at a wide variety of locations and times. It was found that if the fox pounced to the north-east, they killed on 73% of their attacks; if they jumped in the opposite direction, they success rate stayed at 60%. In all other directions, only 18% of their pounces were successful. Hearing and scent doesn't explain the results.selvaRajan_{November 30, 2013
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Foxes, wolves and bears (which this yEC says are the same kind from pairs etc off the ark) use their powers of scent and hearing. its probably the smell and then mere listening that does it. No compass or GPS need be invoked.Robert Byers_{November 29, 2013
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:) , That was cool!bornagain77_{November 29, 2013
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