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Why do some animals sleep so much?
#1
It is an interesting question, why do some animals sleep so much. A brown bat can sleep 20 hours a day and an elephant can manage on two hours.
It is a question that humans find interesting. We certainly study it. I was surprised by the answer given in this article.
No one knows why.
So far our studies have not given us a clear answer. It seems that sleep is necessary and everyone does it. It isn't clear why everything needs sleep or why the amount varies so much.
Sleep does seem to serve a function, but what that function is has not been proven.

https://www.livescience.com/why-some-mam...-much.html

I am sure we will keep studying sleep. We do want to know. My reptile pets seem to sleep all the time. When I had dwarf hamsters they seemed sleep continuously in February and were awake continuously in June. Guinea pigs sleep a lot and they eat a lot. That pretty much sums up their lives.
Humans  vary from long sleepers who need way more than the average 8 hours and short sleepers who need way less than the average 8 hours.
How can we have that much variation in the same species?  It won't surprise you that I average 4 hours of sleep a night at best. 
I will be interested to see what further studies tell us about sleep.  If it is so important, how can there be so much variation. 
How can the same hamster sleep continuously part of the year and be awake continuously part of the year?
[Image: IMG_9091.JPG]
Catherine

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