Scientists Find That Wolves' And Dogs' Sleep States Don't Quite Match Up

The sleep patterns of wolves and dogs can be compared in order to understand how evolution and domestication may have affected sleep.

The study involved seven hand-raised, socialized wolves, which meant that they could be calmly and safely coaxed into natural sleep by their handler without any risk of harm to the animals.

The brain activity of the wolves was tracked using non-invasive brain activity recordings.

The sleeping habits of wolves are being studied for the first time.

"Although dog-wolf comparative studies have already been conducted in several areas of research, including behavioral and genetic studies, the neural processes of wolves remain a largely unexplored field," says ethologist Anna Blint.

We were able to measure all of the sleep stages that were previously observed in dogs.

It's difficult to track wolves in nature because of where they live and how frequently they move around, and it's even more difficult to keep an eye on them while they sleep. This is the first part of a solid data research project.

The wolves' results were compared with those of family dogs.

Our canine friends and wolves seem to spend the same amount of time in different sleep stages, while older animals log less'slow wave' brain activity, compared to the young.

A wolf is asleep. The Lornd University's Department of Ethology is located there.

There are different variations as well. Humans are linked to dreaming due to the fact that wolves log more REM sleep. The larger the difference is, the older the animal.

"This finding is especially intriguing since the amount of REM sleep has been linked to various different effects including neurodevelopment, stress, domestication, but also memory consolidation," says first author ethologist.

We are learning more and more about how animals sleep. When it comes to human beings, sleep can have a significant effect on multiple aspects of our mental and physical health, but there are still questions about how much sleep we actually need

Dogs have adapted their sleep patterns in response to domestication, so we can learn how humans have evolved their sleep habits. Our species has gone from living wilder, outdoor, less protected lives to having days that are more controlled thanks to advances such as electricity and the lightbulb.

Scientists won't make any broad conclusions from the findings, but they are an interesting starting point for future study due to the small sample size

"We suggest that using our reliable, easily applicable methodology in different labs may form the basis of an international, multi site collection of similar samples, allowing for generalizable scientific conclusions," says ethologist Mrta Gcsi from MTA-ELTE.

The research was published in a scientific journal.