The scientists from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, revealed the mystery of the elephant’s sleep. These mammals have the shortest period of sleep – two hours only. Why?
The biologists for South Africa have revealed the secret of the elephant sleep. This big mammal has the longest memory and the shortest period of the sleep. While the elephants at the zoos sleep six hours, they relatives in the natural surroundings spend only two hours for the sleep.
The biologists under the guidance of Prof Paul Manger of the University of the Witwatersrand tracked two elephants in Botswana to find out more about this interesting feature of the mammals. the aim of the scientists were the sleep patterns. In fact, in the wild surroundings, the elephant sleeps two hours at night.
Sometimes, the elephants stayed awake for several days, they can travel long distances, perhaps to escape lions or poachers. Sometimes the animals can fall into the dreaming sleep like in humans, every three or four days – when they slept lying down rather than on their feet.
Prof Paul Manger said this makes elephant sleep unique.
“Elephants are the shortest sleeping mammal – that seems to be related to their large body size. It seems like elephants only dream every three to four days. Given the well-known memory of the elephant this calls into question theories associating REM sleep with memory consolidation.”
