Wild boars (Sus scrofa) and warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) have an internal magnetic compass that helps them orient themselves as they forage for food and inhabit new areas, suggests a new study led by Dr. Pascal Malkemper from the Czech University of Life Sciences and the University of Duisburg-Essen.

For the study, Dr. Malkemper and his colleagues observed wild boars at 31 different localities in the Czech Republic and warthogs at 33 different localities in six African countries.

The animals had a highly significant axial preference to align themselves approximately along the magnetic north-south axis, with a slight shift towards east.

The time of the day, season, and weather conditions had no significant influence on the average directional preferences of the animals.

“We measured body-axis alignment in 1,614 foraging or resting wild boars, 1,849 wild boar beds, and 1,347 warthogs, and found a highly significant north–south preference,” Dr. Malkemper and co-authors said.

According to the team, the magnetic field was the only common denominator of all observations.

“Thus, we provide the first data suggesting a magnetic sense in the Suidae (a widespread family of artiodactyl mammals commonly called pigs, hogs, or boars),” the scientists said.

“The fascinating findings add on to a well growing body of evidence for a magnetic sense in mammals,” Dr. Malkemper said.

“The interesting questions that arise now are how they are able to sense the magnetic field and whether they really use it for navigation.”

The findings were published online June 19 in the journal Mammal Review.

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Jaroslav Červený et al. Magnetic alignment in warthogs Phacochoerus africanus and wild boars Sus scrofa. Mammal Review, published online June 19, 2016; doi: 10.1111/mam.12077