Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany have discovered some startling facts about birds and their ability to sleep. It seems, according to their study, that birds can sleep even while they are flying. In addition to that, the scientists found that certain birds only sleep for a total of 41 minutes a day.
It seems that birds will take 12 second naps during the day by shutting down half of their brains to do it. There are times, however, when a bird will shut down its entire brain for that brief 12 second time period. The research team attached tiny brain monitors to 14 red breasted frigatebirds and were soon shocked to discover that the birds were actually sleeping while in mid flight. The tiny monitors could detect head movement as well as give accurate EEG read outs of the birds’ brain functions at a given time.
The birds, it seems, can even navigate and fly even if in deep REM sleep. The researchers also discovered that the birds could fly over 1,800 miles without stopping to rest or to sleep. The birds sleep in two different ways. The first way is in slow wave and REM sleep that is the same as when mammals sleep. The other way, however, is that they achieve slow wave sleep alternating between the two hemispheres of their brains but can actually experience deep REM sleep in both hemispheres simultaneously.
All of this type of sleep doesn’t interfere with their navigational abilities as the scientists saw that, even while sleeping, the birds were aware of their surroundings and what they were doing. They tend to take their 12 second power naps while they are not flapping their wings; usually as the are just drifting with the air currents. Because of this awareness of their surroundings, it is what prevents the birds from simply falling out of the sky to their deaths. It is similar to how dolphins can sleep without drowning.
The team chose the frigatebirds because they nest in the Galapagos Islands and can spend weeks at a time airborne in search of food. Most birds, the scientists believe are extremely sleep deprived. The frigatebirds, for instance, will sleep only 41 minutes a day but, when on land, can sleep for up to 12 hours at a time.
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