….There are a number of new videos of the ducklings that have been posted under the QHST Science account on youtube, including this one of the ducklings trying to get comfortable so they can catch some z’s.
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….While they all are pretty safe and nestled here (you can see one or two trying to jockey for position in the proverbial dog pile), we have found that some of the time when they are sleeping the ducks on the outside seem to be aware of any movement around them. Part of this may be due to a very interesting feature of the way ducks sleep.
….Ducks can actually control how alert they are during sleep through a unique type of sleep called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep. The pioneer in the study of how ducks sleep this way is Dr. Niels Rattenborg, who published a paper in 1999 that appears to demonstrate how ducks can manipulate their type of sleep when they feel they are under risk of predation. In the studies carried out by Dr. Rattenborg and his collaborators they videotaped a row of ducks as they were sleeping and observed that ducks at the ends of the rows would only partially rest as one side of the brain continued to operate at full capacity and by keeping one of their eyes open. Ducks situated on the interior of a group of sleeping ducks experience full sleep and rotate with the ‘watcher’ ducks to share the responsibilities. While this type of sleep phenomenon is rare there are some other animals that share the ability such as lizards, whales, penguins, seals and some other aquatic mammals. You can read more about the trait and study at these links:
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Half-asleep birds choose which half dozes
Birds sleep with half brain off and rest on
Mad Science @ QHST 