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New Research Sheds Light on Social Sleep in Animal Groups

Scientists propose studying group sleep in the wild to uncover its impact on behavior and survival.

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Pairing this sleep data with measurements of the group’s social networks like dominance hierarchies and kinship relationships, for example, could provide important ecological and evolutionary insights into the impact of sleep on the fitness and survival of both individual and groups of animals, the researchers say. Credit: Neuroscience News

Overview

  • Group sleeping affects sleep patterns, timing, and depth in various species.
  • Traditional lab studies miss the social context of sleep in natural environments.
  • Researchers advocate for using technologies like accelerometers to study social sleep.
  • Understanding social sleep can reveal its evolutionary and ecological roles.
  • The social environment shapes and is shaped by the sleep of group members.