Man's best friend/ canine compass? : Dogs tend to poop facing North or South, extensive study by scientists finds.

Depending on whether magnetic conditions were calm or disrupted, dogs tend to align their bodies with the magnetic poles in order to excrete, a study suggests.

'Researchers from Czech University and the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany observed 70 dogs from 37 different breeds over the course of a two-year period.

'They found that dogs preferred to excrete when their body was aligned along the north-south axis under "calm Earth's magnetic field (MF) conditions." '

(Times of India 'Dogs poop in line with the Earth's magnetic field' by PTI at Jan 3, 2014, 04.56 PM IST)

The scientists' breakthrough may be difficult to replicate without high technology however, as calm Magnetic Field conditions only occur one fifth of the time, and dogs only do the doozey in line with the poles when the magnetic field is calm. That means your dog might not be a replacement for your compass after all.

Article by SACNS and Aupiais Wire.