 A
new study showed that during the migration, birds take hundreds of naps
during the day, each lasting only few seconds, to compensate the night
sleep loss.
Swainson’s thrushes have a migration route of 3,000 miles from their
breeding areas in northern Canada and Alaska to winter territories in
Central and South America. They travel mostly during the night and
often for long hours at a time, leaving little time for sleep.
Scientists recorded caged thrushes for an entire year to see when and
how long they slept. During autumn and spring - the migration periods -
they reverse
their typical sleep patterns, staying awake at night and resting
during day. The difference is that, instead of sleeping for long
stretches at a time, the birds took several naps a day, of only 9
seconds on average. The scientists discovered also two other forms of
sleep beside shut-eye type.
The unilateral eye closure (UEC) means the birds rested one eye and one
half of their brains while their other eye and brain hemisphere
remained open and active, keeping them semi-alert to danger.
Other process, named drowsiness, is characterized by a partial shutting
of both eyes that still allows for some visual processing. Drowsiness
"is probably a state that, to some extent, grants the benefits of sleep
while allowing for some of the benefits of wakefulness," said study
team member Thomas Fuchs of Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
By alternating between naps, UEC and drowsiness, the thrushes and other
migratory birds can reap some of the benefits of sleep while only
marginally increasing their risks of being caught by prey birds. "In
terms of quality, drowsiness and unihemispheric sleep may be less
beneficial than [normal] sleep, but it may also be safer," Fuchs told
LiveScience.
The idea that some birds can really sleep while in flight has not yet
been proved. Sleep is nearly an universal must in the animal kingdom.
It may be necessary to organize the memories we amass during the day
and to give our bodies time to rest, but nothing is proven. "I think
what’s interesting about our findings is that even animals that should
be highly adapted to sleep loss cannot go on indefinitely," Fuchs said.
"That a need for sleep cannot be eliminated even in these species
underscores the importance of sleep for many, if not all, animals." |
