Can Animals Dream? – Webtekno

These movements sometimes become so interesting that there are paw movements as if they are in a tough fight and They make sounds that are never made normally. Of course, there must be an explanation for this unusual behavior.

Now, by opening some of the secrets about our little friends, Let’s look at the relationship between dreams and animals.

Similar to humans, animals have many neurons and complex brain structures.

These neurons help information travel through the brain and nervous system by producing electrical signals. Electrical activity continues even during sleep.

Sleep stage in general It is divided into two: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. Often a sleep process begins with non-REM sleep; eventually reaches REM, defined as rapid eye movements, and then returns to non-REM sleep.

During REM, the brain is very active. The eyes are closed and moves quickly behind the eyelids. Heart rate and breathing also increase. It is also thought that dreaming occurs during this phase of sleep.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to observe an animal’s dreams, but the sounds, images and activities occurring in their sleeping minds can provide various clues.

In this case, observing the movements of brain cells during dreaming and incorporating these observations into Comparing it to the waking state of the animal It may be possible to try to understand.

In fact, every animal, from dolphins that sleep with half their brains awake to koalas that sleep 20 hours a day, There is a lot of variety in sleep.

According to the research, all mammals, including birds and reptilesExperiences REM and non-REM sleep phases. It is also possible to say that an animal may be dreaming during REM sleep, just like a human.

So, can every animal in REM sleep dream?

For example, domestic cats were one of the first animals to be subjected to dream research. Michel Jouvet, an expert in sleep studies, observed the behavior of cats while sleeping in the 1960s and He produced some evidence that they were dreaming.

According to Jouvet, cats have a brainstem structure called the pons, and this structure is an indicator that they are going through the REM phase. Cats’ brains are deep in REM sleep, just like when they’re awake. Shows scratching, jumping and hunting movements.

Mice in dreams remember memories of the maze.

Studies show that mice that run in a maze during the day can run the same path again while they are asleep. When the mouse woke up, the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for creating and storing memories, remembers the neuron pattern of navigating the maze.

The sleeping brain then reproduces the same pattern, which the mouse remembers the maze and it shows that you are learning again.

Research on whether animals dream or not continues unabated.

For example lack of neural activity in the brain It is unlikely that any mental imagery, if any, will occur. For this reason, there were initially suggestions that animals that did not show evidence of REM sleep, such as insects and fish, did not dream.

However, in 2022, some researchers from the USA and Germany, Jumping spiders move their eyes while sleeping and thus discovered that he could dream by going through the REM phase.

In summary, humans are not the only creatures that experience the REM phase and dream. The way some animals, which have been found to be able to dream, dive into this dream world is full of differences. For this reason, our little friends There is always the possibility of dreaming.