Deer Line Up North-South, Whether Relaxing or Running

If you're ever lost in a remote European forest, you might be able to get your bearings by finding a herd of roe deer. These animals like to align themselves roughly north-south, whether they're standing still or fleeing danger. Roe deer are small, reddish or grayish grazers common in Europe and Asia. Petr Obleser, of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, and his coauthors studied the behavior of these skittish herbivores to look for evidence that they can sense the earth's magnetic field. Two men separately patrolled the Czech countryside for deer. They went on foot, wearing olive-green hunting gear and carrying binoculars. Whenever an observer spotted a roe deer, he stopped and recorded how the deer was oriented: East-west? Northwest-southeast? Then he continued walking toward the animal. When it fled, he recorded the direction it had run in. The researchers were able to gather data on 188 ...