Do Lizards Dream Like Humans?

A study whose findings were published by Science in 2016 focused on the bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) and demonstrated that this lizard also entered two distinct sleep states. It further hypothesized that such sleep states originated in a common ancestor of mammals and reptiles, 350 million years ago.

The team of researchers from the CNRS and Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University began by replicating the 2016 bearded dragon experiment. They then conducted a new investigation using another species of lizard, the Argentine tegu (Salvator merianae). Their data confirm both lizards go into two distinct sleep states bearing similarity to slow-wave and REM sleep, respectively.

But their analysis of behavioral, physiological, and cerebral parameters dug deeper and revealed differences not only between the sleep of the lizards and the sleep of both mammals and birds, but also between the two lizard species. Although human REM sleep is characterized by cerebral and ocular activity similar to that observed while awake, the corresponding state in both lizard species is associated with slower eye movements and, in the case of the tegu, cerebral activity very unlike that of waking hours.

These differences observed by the researchers paint a more complex picture of REM sleep in the animal kingdom and open new doors for investigations into the origin of our own sleep patterns and dreams . . . and those of lizards.

Contacts and sources:
Juliette Dunglas / Véronique EtienneCNRS

Citation:  Partial homologies between sleep states in lizards, mammals, and birds suggest a complex evolution of sleep states in amniotes.
Paul-Antoine Libourel, Baptiste Barrillot, Sébastien Arthaud, Bertrand Massot, Anne-Laure Morel, Olivier Beuf, Anthony Herrel, Pierre-Hervé Luppi. PLOS Biology, 2018; 16 (10): e2005982 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2005982