Baby Bird Sleep Patterns Are A Lot Like Baby Humans
Friday, August 2, 2013 - 13:20
in Biology & Nature
The sleeping patterns of baby birds are similar to that of baby mammals they even appear to change in the same way as it does in humans. Studying barn owls in the wild, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the University of Lausanne discovered that this change in sleep is strongly correlated with the expression of a gene involved in producing dark, melanic feather spots, a trait known to covary with behavioral and physiological traits in adult owls. They speculate that sleep-related developmental processes in the brain contribute to the link between melanism and other traits observed in adult barn owls and other animals. read more