WASHINGTON (AP) -- Cows seem to have a built-in compass.

That's no bull: Somehow, cattle seem to know how to find north and south, say researchers who studied satellite photos of thousands of cows around the world.

Most cattle that were grazing or resting tended to align their bodies in a north-south direction, a team of German and Czech researchers reports in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study sent Tina and Duane Hinchley of Cambridge, Wisconsin, to take a new look at an aerial photo taken of their dairy farm a few years ago.

Hinchley says about two-thirds of the cows were north-south.

And researchers agree. That ratio is close to what they found in their look at 8,510 cattle in 308 pastures.

The research team noted that in very windy conditions cattle tend to face the wind, and have been known to seek out the sun on cold days.