Researchers reported online from Current Biology the variety of traits cave life tend to experience through evolution. The list included blindness, loss of eyes, loss of pigmentation, and changes to feeding behaviors as well as metabolism. They recently confirmed sleeplessness as an addition to the list. Richard Borowsky of New York University noticed that "In some ways, their sleep phenotypes are similar to those of humans with sleep disorders." They apparently partake in an interesting sleeping cycle that includes sleeping for "relatively short periods" and then "they remain active for a relatively long time." The study could offer leads to understand variations in sleep of other species and even humans.
I found the discovery interesting because it makes me wonder about the pros and cons of human evolution. What are the variations that have occurred for us over time and could they lead to understanding other species? The connection between sleeping patterns of cave fish and human sleeping disorders is quite an intriguing discussion. This follows similarly to the concept previously stated. What patterns of other species could lead to realizing advancements in the patterns of humans? My hope is that more research will be conducted to further answer my questions.
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/04/07/through_evolution_cavefish_have_lost_sleep.html
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