Birds, humans, and even dogs do it. We all sleep and dream. But, do spiders do it as well? It’s a question that’s keeping some German scientists up at night.
Spiders may be nasty and crawly, but experts have discovered that they are more similar to humans than we realize. Recent research from the University of Konstanz in Germany discovered that arachnids, notably jumping spiders, may doze in a dream-like condition with fast eye movement. That is known as REM sleep, and it is the deepest period of sleep that helps us feel refreshed and healthy.
Scientists can’t scan a spider’s brain, therefore they can’t ask them about their dreams. So the next best thing is to monitor them at night. “We really witness twitching and uncontrollable leg movements, together with genuine retinal movements,” said behavioral and evolutionary ecologist Daniela Roessler.
Roessler established a facility to observe newborn spiders while they hanged at night.
“I strongly believe they are having visual dreams,” Roessler added, “but it will be quite difficult to show that scientifically.”
Using night vision, the researchers saw leaping spiders attaching themselves to silk anchors before falling asleep.
“They have tiny spurts of activity throughout the night that return rather frequently, and the durations are also extremely predictable,” Roessler added.
According to the researchers, this is the first time scientists have witnessed REM sleep in animals without a backbone or spine. So, whether you have eight legs or two, it seems that everyone need beauty sleep.
The work was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
But what could spiders possibly dream about? “I would guess they’re going to be dreaming about flies,” says London zookeeper Jamie Mitchell.