It was shown earlier that dogs, when selecting between two dishes with snacks placed in front of them, left and right, prefer to turn either clockwise or counterclockwise or randomly in either direction. This preference (or non-preference) is individually consistent in all trials but it is biased in favor of north if they choose between dishes positioned north and east or north and west, a phenomenon denoted as “pull of the north”. Here, we replicated these experiments indoors, in magnetic coils, under natural magnetic field and under magnetic field shifted 90° clockwise. We demonstrate that "pull of the north" was present also in an environment without any outdoor cues and that the magnetic (and not topographic) north exerted the effect. The detailed analysis shows that the phenomenon involves also "repulsion of the south". The clockwise turning preference in the right-preferring dogs is more pronounced in the S-W combination, while the counterclockwise turning preference in the left-preferring dogs is pronounced in the S-E combination. In this way, south-placed dishes are less frequently chosen than would be expected, while the north-placed dishes are apparently more preferred. Turning preference did not correlate with the motoric paw laterality (Kong test). Given that the choice of a dish is visually guided, we postulate that the turning preference was determined by the dominant eye, so that a dominant right eye resulted in clockwise, and a dominant left eye in counterclockwise turning. Assuming further that magnetoreception in canines is based on the radical-pair mechanism, a "conflict of interests" may be expected, if the dominant eye guides turning away from north, yet the contralateral eye "sees the north", which generally acts attractive, provoking body alignment along the north-south axis.

Hunting dogs are exposed to the risk of injury in driven hunts, an often-used method for managing growing wild boar numbers. This study investigated the impact of increased hunting pressure—both across the hunting season and within individual hunting events—on the risk of wild boar attacks on hunting dogs, i.e., the length of the hunting season (2.68 ± 0.76 months, mean ± standard deviation), the number of driven hunts per season (3.99 ± 0.43), the intervals between hunts (17.85 ± 4.83 days), the number of wild boars harvested per season (14.46 ± 13.10), and the number of participants (23.8 ± 10.69) and dogs (4.56 ± 2.66) involved per hunt. The data were collected via a retrospective questionnaire survey. The information-theoretic approach (IT-AIC) and GLMM were employed to estimate the factors’ effects on the number of wild boar attacks on dogs reported in 40 hunting grounds in five consecutive hunting seasons (2.60 ± 5.07 attacks per hunting season in a hunting ground). The number of attacks only increased with the length of the hunting season. The best model did not include other factors, such as shorter intervals between hunts, a higher number of driven hunts, wild boars harvested, or participants. The respondents reported 150 injuries by wild boars during 797 driven hunts. Most injuries were mild (73.8%), with fewer severe (18.8%) and fatal (7.4%) cases. Further investigation into wild boar and hunting dog interactions is necessary for constructing strategies to improve hunting practices and reduce dog injury risks.

As humanity embarks on interplanetary exploration and envisions future colonies beyond Earth, understanding the impact of extreme environments on life becomes paramount. Among these factors, the hypomagnetic field (HMF)—a condition where the protective geomagnetic field is absent—remains poorly understood, especially regarding its effects on (micro)organisms. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine how short-term exposure to an HMF (24 h to 7 days) affects the growth of three different microorganisms, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, and Lactobacillus plantarum, using a specialized hypomagnetic chamber and advanced spectrophotometric analysis. We demonstrate significant growth inhibition in S. cerevisiae (23%) and A. ferrooxidans (68%), with L. plantarum remaining unaffected. This inhibitory effect appears reversible, diminishing as organisms return to normal geomagnetic conditions. These findings reveal that the HMF acts as a temporary environmental stressor, underscoring the need for deeper exploration of its biological effects. Our work sets the stage for further research into how the space environment may shape microbial ecosystems critical to future human endeavors in space.

Central Europe faces an overabundance of wild ungulates, which is driven by several factors, including traditional hunting practices. The harvest of females is insufficient and recorded without verification, even when they were not actually hunted. This practice contributes to further population growth through accurate hunting records. Therefore, basic procedures for automated registration based on muzzle pattern animal biometric evaluation of harvested wild ungulates were proposed. The red deer ( Cervus elaphus ) served as the model species. For the assessment of biometric characteristics, 2,193 photographs were taken from the frontal and overhead directions of 972 harvested red deer during regular game management. A comparison of the collected images using the LoFTR ( Local Feature TRansformer ) method revealed the potential for individual identification, with the peak accuracy of 95.048%. On the contrary, the minimum accuracy was 90.048% using a combination of overhead and frontal images of high and medium quality. Because there is no solution for the recognition of ungulates the comparison of these results was performed with the recognition systems for pets and livestock. Achieved accuracy is around 2% better than comparable recognition systems (with similar dataset size, number of feature points, etc.). The results confirmed that biometric methods can be used to identify and record harvested game. This can be achieved by developing a mobile application that transmits images for automated comparison and evaluation. Once individual identity is confirmed, the animal will be registered. This ensures a verifiable record of harvested game and provides a solid foundation for sustainable hunting planning.

Domestic dogs can sense the geomagnetic field (GMF), spontaneously aligning their bodies along its axis, altering the alignment’s pattern during geomagnetic disturbances. Whether anthropogenic magnetic fields (MF) from high-voltage power lines (PL) influence this behavior remains unclear. We investigated the effects of alternating MF generated by PL on spontaneous magnetic alignment in 36 dogs. Behavior was recorded under north–south (NS) and east–west (EW) oriented PL and compared with control conditions lacking anthropogenic MF. Each dog’s mean alignment angle relative to magnetic north was calculated from >50 measurements per condition, and Grand Means (GMs) were derived. Under control geomagnetically calm conditions, alignment was bimodal (GM = 23°/203°), while geomagnetic storms caused significant shifts and increased angular dispersion. Under NS-oriented PL, alignment remained bimodal (GM = 5°/185°), but under EW-oriented PL it became trimodal (Likelihood ratio test for multimodality: nodes = 3, p = 0.042; GM = 103°/283°). These differences were statistically significant (LME for linearized angles: p < 0.001 for control vs. NS PL and control vs. EW PL). Our results demonstrate that dogs maintain directional alignment under PL exposure, with orientation patterns corresponding to the direction of both MF and PL, which suggests a potentially complex impact involving non-magnetic cues.

Domestic dogs can sense the geomagnetic field (GMF), spontaneously aligning their bodies along its axis, altering alignment's pattern during geomagnetic storms. Whether anthropogenic magnetic fields (MF) from high-voltage power lines (PL) influence this behavior remains unclear. We investigated the effects of alternating MF generated by PL on spontaneous magnetic alignment in 36 dogs. Behavior was recorded under north–south (NS) and east–west (EW) oriented PL and compared with control conditions lacking anthropogenic MF. Each dog’s mean alignment angle relative to magnetic north was calculated from >50 measurements per condition, and Grand Means (GM) were derived. Under control geomagnetically calm conditions, alignment was bimodal (GM = 23°/203°), while geomagnetic storms caused significant shifts and increased angular dispersion. Under NS-oriented PL, alignment remained bimodal (GM = 5°/185°), but under EW-oriented PL it became trimodal (Likelihood ratio test for multimodality: nodes = 3, p = 0.042; GM = 103°/283°). These differences were statistically significant (LME for linearized angles: p < 0.001 for control vs. NS PL and control vs. EW PL). Our results demonstrate that dogs maintain directional alignment under PL exposure, with orientation patterns corresponding to the direction of both MF and PL, which suggests a potentially complex impact involving non-magnetic cues.