By Robbert van der Linde
Dec 25, 2023 at 3:01 PM Update: 2 hours ago
If you ate too much for Christmas dinner, you can take reindeer as an example. It turns out that they can continue to chew their food while they sleep research from Norwegian scientists.
Although reindeer are used to cold conditions, these animals also have to make more effort to find food during the winter months. While the cold means they need more food to keep themselves warm and alive.
The time they spend looking for food is at the expense of the time they can use to sleep. But the animals have found a solution to that.
They can enter a ‘sleep mode’, while their brains remain active. The brain then directs the animals to continue eating while they rest. The stomach also remains active to digest the food.
The reindeer brain knows how much sleep the animal needs. This is also the case in humans, but otherwise quite rare in animal species.
Reindeer can also see better in the winter months. Their blue eyes serve as a kind of night vision goggles, making it easier for them to find their favorite meal.
Reindeer are herbivores and eat everything from tree leaves to plants. In winter these are less present, so the animals switch to the so-called reindeer moss and grass.
2023-12-25 14:01:19
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