Migrating birds vaporize non - stopover for days at a prison term , sometimes crossing farseeing stretches of ocean where they have no opportunities to land and relief . People have long speculated that doll still chance a manner to sleep , but for the first time , now scientists have observedmigrating birdstaking mid - air naps , proving that they do n’t pull all - nighters to land up their day - long or week - farsighted journeys .
A study inNature Communicationsanalyzed the brain activity of nine frigatebirds from the Galápagos Islands , a group that drop weeks or months pilot over the ocean without stopping to take a loading off . The researchers attached to each snort a sensing element plan for home pigeon that detects brain - moving ridge bodily function using an EEG trial run , as well as an accelerometer to measure the bird ’s head movements . They then tracked the birds for 10 day .
Likedolphins , birds can sleep with one eye opened and half their brain awake , a fact that scientist haveknownfor more than a decade . This subject area found that Bronx cheer can part shut out off their brain while fly , too .
While they often slept with just one cerebral hemisphere at a time , the dame did occasionally allow both hemispheres of the brain to sleep while still flying . When they slept mid - flight , they tended to do so at higher altitudes and in rising air currents , so they were actually ascend as they drowse . However , just because they can sleep does n’t always stand for they do .
On land , the birds incline to catch some Z’s about 50 percent of their day ( during day and nighttime hours ) . While flying they only slept at dark , for less than an hour , and slept less deeply than they did on land . That ’s plausibly because while migrating , they require to be on the lookout station for threats and for potential food sources , and prioritize those activities over get eternal sleep .
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