HOW ANIMALS SLEEP.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4590, 25 July 1923, Page 4

HOW ANIMALS SLEEP.

(By T.C.8., in the Overseas Daily Mail.) Wild horses ana horses running at grass spend a good deal of their time lying down. But of horses kept in stables, especially if they are tied up, t,wo in five entirely refuse to lie down, and live always on their feet. Yet a horse can sleep quite comfortably in a .standing position. If you watch it doing so you will notic? that it rests one leg at a time, depending upon the other three to sustain the weight of its body. In this respect ■ the elephant resembles the horge. An elephant wild in the jungle usually lies down to sleep, but an elephant in captivity sleeps standing up. The rhinocerous, too, can sleep in a standing position, although in a wild state it generally lies down to do so. A wolf or a fox sleeps purled up, its nose tucked in close to. the soles of its feet and blanketed by its bush tail. If you watch your dog you will notice that, when very tired, this is the way in which he sleeps, but on the other hand, if just taking a cat nap, he often lies straight out wihh hi 3 nose between his fore paws, or sometimes flat on his side, with all four legs stretched out. All birds sleep standing up, and, not content with this, some, such as storks and cranes and gulls, stand on one leg only. Almost all birds,, with the exception of owls, sleep .with their head turned over the back, and beak thrust among the feathers between the wings and body. Owls simply drop their heads between their shoulders and seem to shrink up into a great bale of fluff. The way in which a sleeping bird preserves its balance perched on a slender twig is explained by the curious construction of its legs and feet. Its clutch upon the twig is absolutely automatic.