As the holiday season approaches, a fascinating study has revealed the incredible multitasking abilities of reindeer, suggesting that these creatures can engage in both chewing and sleeping simultaneously.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research in Tromsø, Norway, proposes that reindeer manage their digestive needs while also getting the essential rest they require. Professor Gabriela Wagner, a co-author of the research, reportedly said, “We speculate that in the wild, rumination might take over an important part of the sleep coverage.”
The study, documented in the journal Current Biology, involved collecting data on brain activity from four adult female reindeer.
Non-invasive electrodes attached to their scalps, using EEG, allowed researchers to monitor the animals’ brain activity over four days during winter, summer, and autumn seasons.
Surprisingly, the analysis of the EEG data revealed that the reindeer spent a consistent amount of time asleep regardless of the season. Moreover, the proportion of time spent in different sleep phases, such as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep or non-REM sleep, remained steady across seasons.
Increase in slow-wave activity
The researchers conducted experiments disrupting the reindeer’s sleep for two-hour periods, which heightened the animal’s need for sleep. “This indicates that the reindeer brain has an “idea” of how much sleep the reindeer need to function well – just like ours,” said Wagner. “This is not so in all animals.”
After chewing the cud, reindeer’s sleepiness goes away
Interestingly, after the reindeer engaged in cud-chewing, its sleepiness went away. Dr. Melanie Furrer, first author of the study from the University of Zurich, noted that during chewing the cud, the reindeer entered a state similar to non-REM sleep.
“We think that the ability to sleep while digesting might be especially important during the short summer when the reindeer are very active all day to eat enough food [and] accumulate fat in anticipation for the food-sparse winter months,” said Wagner.
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