Reindeer don’t get much sleep: In a herd, they take turns grabbing short naps; when fearful of predators, one hemisphere of their brain sleeps while the other keeps watch.
Now, a study published in Current Biology shows they can sleep while eating, too.
Whether carb-loading before pulling Santa’s sleigh or just browsing nature’s produce aisle before the long Arctic winter, reindeer get food while the gettin’ is good.
That continual eating should cause a build-up of physical pressure to sleep, followed by a rebound of more, deeper, non-REM sleep.
But a non-invasive EEG study of four Eurasian tundra reindeer shows the animals experience smaller sleep rebounds during summer, and that brain activity related to non-REM sleep dropped during rumination.
In short, reindeer are more rested after chewing their cud.
That adaptation could help them chow down more when food is most abundant.
