Dream

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Babette's dream

Last night Babette had an unusual and long dream. Her paws were in full motion and her ears and whiskers were twitching, her nose got very busy sniffing something interesting. Suddenly she moaned and made crying sounds and her legs moved more and more wildly as if she was now really really running and her tail started to go up and down and shake left and right. I believe what ever she was up to became not so pleasant anymore! When she opened her eyes, she had the face of a dazed dog. I wondered if she had a nightmare and was relieved to awake and get out of whatever she was dreaming. Of course we can never tell..

I read that not all animals that experience REM sleep necessarily dream. Some think that perhaps only mammals dream during REM sleep. However, dolphins, thought to be highly intelligent do not have any REM sleep whatsoever!

I was surprised to read that elephants,giraffes,cows,horses and even sheep dream too!

Apparently elephants don't change in posture when entering or exiting REM sleep. Therefore, it is often difficult to tell if they are in NonREM or REM sleep. It is hard to see the eye movements since their eyes are relatively small. However, some indicators of REM sleep in elephants, as well as other animals, are twitches, vocalizing and irregular breathing.

Giraffes have about 20 min. of REM sleep each night in episodes of 1-6 minutes each. During this time, they lie down, heads resting over their bodies or on the ground.

Horses which must lie down to experience REM sleep, sometimes move their legs while sleeping, and will even neigh in their sleep!

Sheep who often sleep in a "sphinx-like" position occasionally stretch out while sleeping. During this time, they experience many REM sleep-like sleep. During this time, they have eye movements and ears and their legs occasionally twitch.

Interesting, isn't it?