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Does a full moon really rush toil ? Scientists have examine this popular quondam wife ' tale , but have found self-contradictory grounds about whether the synodic month move the timing of human births . A new study , however , has shown there may be some truth to this bit of folklore — for dairy farm kine , at least .
A team of research worker analyzed the birth timing of more than 400 dairy cows from a stock hump as Holstein Friesian . By look back the record of full - term self-generated moo-cow rescue during a three - twelvemonth period , the researchers found that parturition frequency increased as thefull moonneared . In fact , the number of births peaked during the penny-pinching full and full synodic month , the research worker say .
Similar studies on thelunar cycle ’s effectson human birth rates have been inconclusive , according to lead study author Tomohiro Yonezawa , a professor in the Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo in Japan . [ 6 Wild Ways the Moon Affects Animals ]
" mother ' nutrition , social environs and genetic background could disguise the moon ’s influence , " Yonezawasaid in a statement . " However , cows may furnish a good model for teasing asunder the lunar effect from other factors that also influence birth . "
The researchers selected Holstein Bos taurus because of their humble genetic diverseness due to domestication , and the uniform shape under which they are raised by professional dairy farm farmers , they said .
Beyond the higher parentage rates of the dairy cows virtually and during the full lunation , the written report also establish that the auspicate and actual delivery dates differed significantly withinthe eight moon form . Cows with predicted delivery date before the first- quarter moon tended to deport afterwards than expected , whereas cows with legal transfer date that devolve during the full moon to the last - quarter form tended to cede on agenda .
datum also showed that the relationship between deliverance timing and the lunar wheel was strongest for multiparous oxen , or those that give rise more than one immature at a parentage .
Yonezawa order that as a veterinary , he seek to take questions that are difficult to suffice in humans and canvass them in farm animals .
" Our findings do not straightaway take hold true for human births and we still do n’t know why the number of calf deliver increases around the full moon , " Yonezawa pronounce . " However , we are worked up to do further research because the findings should eventually lead to discovery that can be generalized to human birth . "
Before any strong conclusion can be draw from this subject , Yonezawa said , the investigator need to verify their results with a large sample size .
The finding were trace in a newspaper publish online Aug. 31 in thejournal PLOS ONE .
Original article onLive Science .
