The answer is: kind of. Insects do seem to alternate between periods of rest and alertness, but it is not clear if they sleep in the same way humans and other animals do. One of the difficulties of studying sleep in insects is that we cannot really study insect brain activity like we can with larger animals.
Scientists have established that insects have some kind of circadian rhythm that determines periods of stasis and alertness. However, it does not seem like insects do not go into homeostatic sleep like humans do and they do not seem to experience periods of REM sleep. Further, scientists have established that these sleep-like states are important for insect cognitive function. The most studied insect in this area is Drosophila melanogaster— the common fruit fly.
Credit: S. In a widely cited study , researchers from UW-Madison explored possible sleep patterns in fruit flies. The researchers noticed that fruit flies alternate between sleep-like states lasting about 3 hours and periods of alertness.
Some resting places can be a bit strange. For example, some bees will clamp their jaws onto a plant and fold up their legs as they enter a state of torpor , dangling in this odd pose until morning! Likewise, some migrating butterflies gather together in large groups in the evenings and hang from branches, appearing to sleep in anticipation of their continued journey the next day.
Resting in large groups provides the butterflies with protection from predators, too. Scientists have found that torpor may be as important to insects as sleep is to humans. Both fruit flies and honey bees act differently when sleep-deprived. They also tend to sleep longer after periods without their regular torpor. Have you ever seen a bug that seemed to be sleeping? After all, how would you like it if someone woke you up from a deep sleep?
Rest is just as important to most other animals. A, CCRA. Are you ready to check out some bugs at night? Find a friend or family member to help you check out the following activities:. Basically it says that: 1.
Insects have times of day they tend to sleep, and if they are kept awake at these times they make up for it when they are not disturbed, regardless of time of day. Caffeine can mess up their sleep schedule. Boy insects can sleep differently from girls. Also, age can have an effect. That sure is a lot!!
Let us know what you think!! Great thought, Alyssa! That could be the case for some bugs, but they can also "sleep" just about anywhere they feel comfortable and safe from predators! Whitehead's Kindergarten Class! We can't wait to hear what you do next! We aren't sure. We hope you'll keeping learning by researching your question online or in your local library!
That's a great question, FlyingPotatoes! We're not sure how they keep a tight grip while sleeping! Check out Wonder 56 to find out more! Here are some more Wonders for you to explore about bugs!
Interesting question, Mrs. Digging a hole in the dirt to sleep would probably help keep them warm! Thanks for commenting! Hello, Mrs. We would love to see an insect with eyebrows!
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What is torpor? Science first defined sleep in insects in when separate research groups led by the Neurosciences Institute in California and the University of Pennsylvania published reports on sleep in the fruit fly. Both groups found that the flies exhibited key features of sleep. And if the scientists kept the flies awake at night by periodically tapping their container, the flies had to make up for it with extra rest just like you have to take a nap after pulling an all-nighter.
The below gif shows sleep-deprived flies on the left and a control on the right. Researchers have also studied sleep and circadian rhythms in many other insects, from tracking how honeybees nap to changing the circadian rhythm of a cockroach by transplanting a bit of the brain of another roach entrained to a different daily cycle.
So why do we care, other than the fact that this stuff is super cool? Studying both sleep and circadian cycles in a relatively simple organism like a fruit fly or a bee can give us insight to these behaviors in general, from the relevant molecular pathways to the genes involved.
There also may be ways to control pest insects by exploiting their circadian rhythms.
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