Peek Inside the Minds of Sleeping Animals.
Your dog whimpers in his sleep. Your cat twitches. It definitely looks like your pet is dreaming. We can’t ask them about it, but scientific evidence—based on similarities in our brains and behavior while sleeping—seems to indicate that animals do dream, just like us. But what are they dreaming about? Scientists are looking at sleeping cats, rats, and even bees to find out what really goes on when they snooze.
In people, the most vivid dreams happen when we experience rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep. During this time, our muscles are normally paralyzed so we don’t act out our dreams, but our brains can be even more active than they are when we’re awake.
All mammals and some birds also experience REM sleep. Other creatures, like reptiles and some insects, might go through REM sleep—or something resembling it.
“They probably don’t have the rich narrative dreams that we experience, but it seems reasonable to think that animals have images and some form of thinking during REM sleep,” says Patrick McNamara, a neuroscientist at Boston University.
Cat Naps and Sleeping Tweets
We first began to peer into the minds of sleeping animals in the 1960's. French scientists discovered that removing cells from the part of a cat’s brainstem called the pons prevented the animal from becoming paralyzed during REM sleep. Instead of lying still, the cats got up and walked around, moved their heads as if following prey, and chased invisible mice—all while still fast asleep. These behaviors hinted that the cats were seeing images during REM sleep and acting out things they liked to do in their waking hours.
So if cats dream about stalking prey, what do birds dream about? Singing, of course!
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Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. Itâs in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. Itâs in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wichâs favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When youâre feeling sick, it probably doesnât occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS ARENâT THE ONLYÂ PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. Itâs only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologistâa person who studies primates. If youâre not, read on.