What does sleep look

like in other animals?

Fabian Fernandez, PhD

PSY 478
Sleep has fought its way through evolution and some facsimile
of it is seen across all species. It subserves a vital function.
Animals, in turn, have evolved
behaviors and physiologies
that equip them to sleep within
their unique environments
Animals, in turn, have evolved
behaviors and physiologies
that equip them to sleep within
their unique environments
Though, even in
animals, sleep
remains a
communal
experience
Though, even in
animals, sleep
remains a
communal
experience
These adaptations
contribute to
differences in how
sleep is expressed
physiologically
 Sleep in the Animal Kingdom

Time Spent Sleeping

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E Sleep-Type Percentage
A few rules of thumb may be identified about sleep
across animals

1. Animals that tend to sleep in relatively safe locations, like underground burrows,
tend to sleep longer.
 A few rules of thumb may be identified about sleep
across animals

2. Typically, herbivores sleep less than carnivores, partly because of the need for long hours of
foraging and eating. On the other hand, top-of-the-food-chain animals like lions and tigers,
which have little fear of predators and often consume huge meals at one sitting, can afford to
spend much of their day sleeping.
 A few rules of thumb may be identified about sleep
across animals

3. Also, as a general rule (at least among herbivores), larger animals sleep less than
smaller ones, although their individual sleep cycles tend to be of longer duration.
 A few rules of thumb may be identified about sleep
across animals

4. Generally speaking, those species which have greater total sleep times tend to also
have higher core body temperatures and higher metabolic rates.
Remember these are heuristics: Both the zoo lion and the
mouse sleep about 13h per day
Polysomnographic
measures

Measuring Sleep in Large Animals

The bottle-nosed dolphin: unihemispheric sleep

Each hemisphere takes

turns sleeping

In other words, they can sleep with one side of

their brain while the other stays awake.
The bottle-nosed dolphin: unihemispheric sleep

This ability to sleep with half a brain is particularly important for new dolphin
mothers. A newly born calf doesn’t float very well and can’t swim for long
periods of time, so its mother must continue to swim for the first few weeks of
her calf’s life to keep it afloat. Her ability to stay awake is critical to keep both her
and her calf from drowning.
 Frigatebird
As in mammals, birds exhibit two types of sleep,
slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye-movement
(REM) sleep. Whereas, SWS can occur in one or
both brain hemispheres at a time, REM sleep can
only occur bihemispherically. During
unihemispheric SWS, the eye connected to the
awake hemisphere remains open, a state that may
allow birds to visually navigate during sleep in
flight. Bihemispheric SWS may also be possible
during flight when constant visual monitoring of the
environment is unnecessary.

Neurologger
Community Regulation:
Sound familiar?
If birds sleep in a line or
circle, those on the outside
may rest one hemisphere
to allow them to stay
partially awake and keep an
eye open for danger. The
ones in the middle may
then sleep with both
hemispheres. The animals
will later switch.
 When the White Crowned Sparrow
Other strategies: migrates, it does not suffer from
Donʼt sleep sleep deprivation and remains
“sharp.” Outside of migration
times, however, sleep deprivation
can severely harm its brain and
body.

Learning Chamber
 Polysomnographic
measures

Measuring Sleep in Small Animals

 EEG trace and sleep stages: People vs. rodents

Orderly architecture

The brain
oscillations
associated with
the 2 main sleep
states are there
in rodents.
There’s little order to how rodent sleep progresses from one stage to the
next, though REM is more likely to occur later in the sleep period.
 Behavioral
measures

Measuring Sleep in Tiny Animals

It can be quite difficult to detect or identify
sleep states in very small animals,
particularly those with less complex brains.
Sometimes we must rely on more
behavioural indicators such as minimal
movement, postures typical for the species,
reduced responsiveness to external
stimulation, etc. Another important
criterion in the definition of sleep in lower
animals is a tendency towards rebound
sleep, or compensation after periods of
sleep deprivation, which has be observed in
all mammals, birds, and invertebrates.
 Behavioural criteria used to define sleep
1. A rapidly reversible state of immobility with greatly reduced sensory
responsiveness. The rapid reversibility distinguishes sleep from coma or
hibernation.

2. Increased arousal thresholds (requires more noise to be woken) and a decreased

responsiveness to external stimulation.

3. Species-specific posture and place preference.

4. Behavioural rituals before sleep (e.g., circling, yawning, nest-making).

5. Circadian regulation and persistence of a ~24-hour rhythm under constant

conditions.

6. A behaviour that is homeostatically regulated such that lost sleep is associated

with an increased drive for sleep, with subsequent ‘sleep rebound’.
The fruit fly Drosophila is the current model of choice
to understand the biology of sleep. Drosophila have
a well-characterized and easy-to-manipulate
genome. There are multiple well-archived mutants.
Flies possess neurotransmitter systems comparable
to vertebrates.
Flies show a typical posture during
behavioural rest (e.g., horizontal
positioning, low muscle tone, with
elevated arousal thresholds). They
also show clear sleep rebound in
response to sleep deprivation.
In Drosophila, stimulants such as
caffeine cause a dose-dependent
decrease in normal resting
behaviour.
 Sleep evolved as a
behavioral state
that supported
not only primitive
functions, such as
stress and
development, but
also the plasticity
needed for
cognition.

December 2015, Vol. 38, No. 12

 Sleep evolved as a
behavioral state
that supported Is this slide still
not only primitive
functions, such as accurate?
stress and
development, but
also the plasticity
needed for Of course not.
cognition.

December 2015, Vol. 38, No. 12

2017
FIN