Introduction
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.