Also: magnetoreception, geomagnetic map, sea turtles, salmon homing, cattle alignment
Many animals sense Earth's magnetic field and use it to find their way, from sea turtles crossing the Atlantic to salmon returning to their home rivers. See also the bird compass page on cryptochrome.
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Lohmann and colleagues found that hatchling loggerhead turtles exposed to magnetic fields matching three distant ocean regions swam in directions that would keep them in the North Atlantic gyre along their migration route.
As reported in: Lohmann, Cain, Dodge et al. (2001). Regional Magnetic Fields as Navigational Markers for Sea Turtles. Science. doi:10.1126/science.1064557
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Lohmann and colleagues reported evidence that sea turtles use a geomagnetic map in navigation.
As reported in: Lohmann, Lohmann, Ehrhart et al. (2004). Geomagnetic map used in sea-turtle navigation. Nature. doi:10.1038/428909a
Putman and colleagues reported evidence that Pacific salmon use geomagnetic imprinting as a homing mechanism.
As reported in: Putman, Lohmann, Putman et al. (2013). Evidence for Geomagnetic Imprinting as a Homing Mechanism in Pacific Salmon. Current Biology. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.12.041
Begall and colleagues analysed satellite images of 8,510 cattle in 308 pastures and field data on 2,974 deer and reported that they tend to align their bodies roughly north-south, with magnetic north a better predictor than geographic north.
Publisher update notice: correction
As reported in: Begall, Červený, Neef et al. (2008). Magnetic alignment in grazing and resting cattle and deer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.0803650105
Hert and colleagues analysed 3,412 cattle in 232 herds in Europe from satellite photos and found no alignment with the geomagnetic field, citing image quality, possible bias and confounders as reasons the earlier result may differ. The two findings remain a published disagreement.
As reported in: Hert, Jelinek, Pekarek et al. (2011). No alignment of cattle along geomagnetic field lines found. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. doi:10.1007/s00359-011-0628-7