Spiders Can Rack Up REM-Like Sleep Debt (And May Even Dream), Just Like Humans

Scientists Confirm "Spiders Do Sleep" For The First Time, And It Includes An Adorable REM-Like Stage Where They Twitch And Curl Their Legs

They also cleaned their legs just before having a snooze, and again when they woke up. Remind you of anything?

Two distinct sleep stages emerge in jumping spider, including a REM-like state

Humans and other vertebrates go through various stages of sleep, including REM (rapid eye movement) sleep characterized by rapid eye movements and muscle twitches. Can a similar sleep state be observed in spiders? Researchers from the Institute of Organismic Biology at the University of Bonn investigated this in the Australian jumping spider Portia fimbriata. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Spiders Can Rack Up REM-Like Sleep Debt (And May Even Dream), Just Like Humans

But what would they dream about?ScienceAlert stories are written, fact-checked, and edited by humans, never generated by AI. Don't miss a story, subscribe here.