Coriolis Force
The Orlando Sentinel – Wednesday, January 30, 1991
Allen Rose – Brevard At Large
Round and round they go. Dog owners of Brevard, listen up: Hank Brandli of Melbourne and I need your help in an international, seat-of-the-pants, not-so-scientific experiment about how your mutt gets ready to take a nap.
Actually, non-owners can participate, too, if they have a friend who has a dog. And that friend happens to live in the Southern Hemisphere: South America, New Zealand, Australia, places like that.
Here’s the story: Hank is a meteorologist. With a houseful of electronic stuff. Among other things he tracks Russian weather satellites. You’ve read about him here before.
He called the other day to tell me about his observations of Chamus, his 15-year-old, part-pointer, part-Dalmation.
“Dogs always seem to go around in a circle before they lay down,” Hank said. “I noticed one day that Chamus circled counter-clock-wise. Once in great while, he’ll go clockwise, but almost all of the time it’s counter-clockwise.
“It sort of rang a bell because in meteorology there is something called the Coriolis Force, which causes hurricane winds and tornadoes to blow counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
“Same thing happens when you flush your toilet. In Brevard, the water goes counter-clockwise. Below the Equator, it swirls clockwise.”
I put down the receiver and took a break right here. Went to the bathroom to check it out. Sure enough. Water spins to the left. Didn’t doubt Hank. But I’m a Virgo. Had to be done.
Hank continued: “My son,Matt, knows a lot about dog behavior. I asked him why they circled like that before they lay down.
“He said it was in their genes. They did it instinctively to flatten grass and make themselves a comfortable place to take a nap.
“I didn’t think much more about it. Just watched Chamus more closely. Started calling him Coriolis.
“But this thing intrigued me. I told a friend of mine named Jeff Smedley in Cape Canaveral about it. He was fascinated, too. Said he had a friend in Tasmania (island off southeastern Australia). And that he’d call him to see which way his dog turns when he lays down there.
“Guess what? The dog in Tasmania turns clockwise. Isn’t that wild? I don’t know if there’s a connection to the Coriolis Force. But now it’s even more fascinating to me.”
I got caught up in Hank’s enthusiasm. The guy could be onto something here. With a little more data to back him up, Hank will set the dog world on its ear. Discover the Brandli Force. Go down in history alongside Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis, the Frenchman who came up with that wind thing in 1835.
That’s where you folks and our not-so-scientific experiment comes in. First, if you own a dog, watch him/her when they lay down. See which way they turn. Let us know.
Second, if you’ve got a dog-owner friend in Tasmania or Buenos Aries or Tonga or anyplace else in the Southern Hemisphere, find out which way Fido swivels there before taking a snooze. Let us know that too.
Third, and perhaps best of all, let’s find out for Hank what dogs do who are born in Argentina and move to Brevard. Or how they circle before taking a nap right on the Equator. Poor creatures probably don’t know which way to turn.
Send your findings – whenever you get them – to Spinning Dogs, c/o Allen Rose, The Orlando Sentinel, 200 Willard St., Cocoa 32922. And help make dog history.- COLUMN NO LONGER PUBLISHED
Allen received many letters and calls about different animals, ice skaters, dancers, plants-vines, race tracks in Southern/Northern Hemisphere, and their rotational affinity or characteristics, etc.
When Allen retired, he told me it was the best column response he ever had in a long and distinguished newspaper/writing career.
THE END
