IT'S very strange, but I notice things that others don’t. I’m not talking about apparitions and otherworldly beings, but rather, mundane everyday things.
For example, whenever I pass a field, I notice that most of the cows would face north or south when feeding, and only a few will be facing somewhere else.
I’ve asked around and no one seems to know the reason why. I know if I were a cow, I would face somewhere else, rather than the regular direction.
But what makes these cows head a certain direction?
Many reasons have been given: herd mentality, preparation for flight in the event of a predator attack and maybe, the grass is really greener on the other side.
Anyway there is a documentary that gives a highly probable reason. According to the documentary, this phenomenon is caused by magnetism. Cows sense the Earth’s magnetic field and align themselves to either the north or south when grazing or resting.
German researchers made use of Google Earth images and looked down on over 8,000 cattle herds around the world. The researchers combined field observations with the satellite data and discovered that herds of deer and cattle tend to align themselves with the north-south direction, regardless of the wind or the position of the sun. This is called magneto reception.
The theory goes that if a herd of cattle is standing under transmission wires, then the cattle will face every way because the transmission wires interfere with the field of magnetism.
“It is amazing that this ubiquitous conspicuous phenomenon apparently has remained unnoticed by herdsmen and hunters for thousands of years,” wrote Sabine Begall, of the University of Duisberg-Essen in Germany, and colleagues in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
It is not only cows, but other animals that portray similar behaviour as well. Migratory birds use magnetic compass information.
Baby turtles know to head towards the sea the moment they emerge from their shells.
I read about an incident where nature lovers put wire mesh over the turtle eggs to protect them from seagulls. When the eggs hatched, the hatchlings were disoriented and did not know how to make it tosea. Apparently, the wire mesh interfered with the field of magnetism.
I wonder whether humans can sense magnetic fields.
The consensus is that we don’t. I am tempted to think that those who have higher spatial intelligence have this ability.
These are the people who have no trouble remembering routes or getting out of the woods while many of us lose much valuable time running in circles.
I think it would be grand to have some sort of an inner compass to point us to the right direction or decision, making life simpler.
The phrase “follow your heart” could be some sort of an inner compass. But experience proves that following the heart is not foolproof. Mistakes abound when the heart is involved and when reason is thrown out of the window.
And what about following one’s gut feelings or intuition? For me, this is an accurate compass. There’s a classic called A Woman’s Intuition by the Wilburn brothers.
The chorus goes like this: It’s a woman’s intuition that rouses her suspicion; And you never know what goes on in her mind; It’s a woman’s intuition that tells her something’s missing; You can bet that she’ll be right most every time.
The long and short of it, humans just have to plough on. For the lack of magneto reception skills, we depend on many things: experience, success, failures, happiness, sorrow, and the list goes on, to help us navigate through life.
One thing I know is that as we get older, we become more affirmative. We know who we are and what we want and don’t.
The difference between youth and seniority is that we are no longer unsure and afraid to stand our ground. We have found our voice and do not need to be people pleasers.
If only navigation through life is as simple as heading either north or south.
But then again, it will not be half as interesting or challenging when compared to what tomorrow will bring.
Dr Koh Soo Ling was a lecturer at
Universiti Teknologi Mara and now spends her days enjoying life as it is