I know REM is essential in most (all?) mammals, so that probably means they do dream. Have any of you ever thought about what other animals might dream about?
When I ask people what my cat is dreaming, for example, they usually give some cutesy answer like “she’s dreaming about chasing mice and birds.” But dreams aren’t limited to our desires or experiences (at least on the surface, but who knows if Freud can be applied to cats). I don’t see why it would be different for other animals…
It probably depends on why we dream about what we do, which is debatable – there are lots of different theories. Most, however, seem to tie into emotions which are unique mainly to humans. Where do we start?
I really don’t know what to think about this, but I’m interested in hearing other people’s opinions. Any thoughts?
Actually I do think they dream about stalking their prey, much the same way people dream about games and sports they’ve played a lot in real life. I think they also have a lot of detached images and stimuli meaningful to them, but I wonder if they have nightmares, too.
Monitors post reminds me of the article ive read.It stated that (apart that animals dream indeed) many of them(i cant remember which species tho:( get same brain pattern/frequencies as we do in REM while concentrating on hunting the prey.Just moments before attack.
Ive just read more about it in one of our sciencific magazines.
It says that animals which are born helpless and need more parental guidance spend much more time in REM.The example is australian platypous with 8 hrs of REM.On the other side of a scale is a dolphin -its ready to live on its own almost from the moment of birth.
It is to say that REM gives us the possibility of training before we are ready to do so in real life.Evolution took care also for that.
But it might be just one of the reasons,at least its the one we can somehow sciencifically prove unlike all the other theories.
The thing is, we can never know exactly what they dream about. Although… in saying that I’ve read about a fairly distasteful experiment where scientists somehow removed a part of the brain that paralyses cats while in REM and they wandered around as if in a dream. Cannot remember what they were seen to do though.
However, who is to say whether some of these mammals have mastered LUCID dreaming? I mean it would make evolutionary sense for animals to be able to direct their dreams to rehearse real life stuff. Although I think our own dreams can show that this is not the sole purpose of our dreams.
Heheh very true about ‘reincarnation goals’. It would be nice if we had a pulldown menu of choices for what we could come back as. Do hibernating animals dream? A few months lucid REM would be nice alright.
Although to go off on a slightly ‘alternative’ tangent here, I like the idea that animals that dream are those which posess some kind of consciousness in the way we are familiar, and the lower, more autonomous life forms (insects, algae etc) that do not dream lack it. And by extension, that they could possess a non-physical aspect in the same way that we might.
When you wander around in a non-lucid dream, you’re not conscious, but do possess some kind of intelligence. Maybe that is the kind of intellect that animals have normally. But since animals are never conscious in the way we are when we’re awake, I don’t think they could become lucid.
My cat was treated very badly as a kitten. I wonder wether he has nightmares. He still hides under beds etc, fearing strangers, however we have managed to make him more trusting.
If we evolved from apes then it’s likley they had souls.
The only reason we don’t tend to dream about pray is because we just go and buy our food. Also many human concepts like maths, science and english, and well, about everything exept instinct is also added to our dreams. Animals don’t tend to have this, and domesticated cats tend to be still in hunting mode, thus there dreams of catching pray.
I sometimes see my cats legs move, as though he’s running, and his mouth sometimes twitches.
If scientists removed the part of the brain that causes paralysis during sleep, then wouldn’t the brain automaticlly repair the damage. When a human had half of their brain removed (In a hospital program) (due to severe epelepcy), the person didn’t suddenly start moving, and it would seem, no memories are lost at all! Prehaps both sides of the brain have exactly the same knolage, or that the “soul” stors our memories.
Another interesting question is, do animals actually think, or do they just sit there sleeping, never really contious when they think.
Adam Atlas…we humans share the same neurotransmitter and the same part of the brain for dreaming as animals that dream and have rem.
Those animals also get suddenly in rem an enormous leveling up of the neurotransmitter thats responsible for memory to do its work.
So its only logic that like with us humans, were rem is important for imprints of learning processes, the same rules for animals that have rem sleep. So prob they dream of what they experienced and what is important for them (at their waking hours). But one thing is for sure…because memory is much involved in rem sleep…iam sure whatever they dream, its something that left an imprint in memory. Witch means like with us…normal life and normal behaviour.
I dont think animals dream lucid…but maybe dolphins are able to do that…because they never sleep totally and one hemisphere always is awake…so who knows.
I think my cat has nightnmares sometimes, He has a certain meow sometimes when he sleeps that sounds like he’s scared, I wake him up when I see this because he seems distressed. I have no way of REALLY knowing what he’s dreaming about of course, but after one of these dreams, he wakes up a bit disorientated, and then becomes very affectionate… maybe I’m humanizing him, but this seems to confirm that he wants comfort. I spend more time with him then most people spend with their pets, so I wonder if he’s dreaming about being abandoned?
I think my dog dreams. When he’s asleep he runs like a manic. His legs are like a cyclone lol. But imagine if we could dream jump to their dreams and actualy communicate with them. That would be awsome.
The golde king of avalon its proven by science that cats and dogs dream and have rem sleep. Because not only they have rem sl;eep like us paralysed a bit but also their memory and emotional centre is active meaning they experience things then and their brain regulates new and old imprints.
Well I know that cats and dogs at least dream. The reason I say this is that our cats and the dog “talk” in their sleep, and the dog actually goes through running motions haha. Her legs move like she’s running and she’ll speak like mini barks or something. My cat will literally sound like he’s carrying on a full conversation while he’s asleep. It’s weird, but super cute.
My dad thinks that the dog is chasing squirrels in her dreams when she’s running like that, because she can’t catch them and she HATES them things, and her bark type things are like little whimpers, so he thinks thats what it is lol.
My dog when he is asleep cries allot and does these cute little yelps. i wake him up cause he sounds scared… but then he kinda growls at me when i wake up…
