Eye-opening research suggests sleeping crocodiles still keep watch
If you ever thought you could safely tiptoe past a sleeping crocodile, please reconsider – scientists have confirmed that the fearsome reptiles sleep with one eye open.
Researchers in Australia and Germany have discovered that crocodiles can deploy “unilateral eye closure” while dozing to keep a close eye on potential threats or prey.
It’s already known that birds, other reptiles and aquatic animals such as dolphins, seals and walruses have evolved unihemispheric sleep, which is when one half of the brain stays awake while the other shuts down. This allows the animals to keep one eye open to monitor events around them.
Until now, researchers have had only anecdotal evidence of this behavior in crocodiles, but a paper published in the Journal of Experimental Biology lends weight to the theory.
Paper:
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/218/20/3175?ijkey=c167500be540c56fd708db4d01866cfd101a3abb&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
Article:
http://news.discovery.com/animals/can-crocodiles-sleep-with-one-eye-open-151022.htm
#biodiversity #research #crocodile
My parakeets and cockatiels always seemed to do this: sound asleep but one eye flickering about half closed no matter when I looked at them, and it opened fully the moment I got within about two meters of them.
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