Dangling upside down, some spiders may sleep and dream like humans: Study

Many people are arachnophobic, which means having an intense fear of spiders. Our fears make us feel uncomfortable and often we avoid those things. Those who have arachnophobia will definitely avoid contact with a spider if they spot one hanging motionless.

But next time when you come across a spider web, keep in mind one thing, that it might actually be snoozing, and dreaming like humans. Yes, you read it right.

Daniela Rößler, a behavioural ecologist, observed jumping spiders dangling in her laboratory in 2020 and came up with this finding.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Recently, Rößler and her research team published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

ALSO READ |All you need to know about the 'very contagious' tomato flu first detected in India?

As per the study, thousands of species of jumping spiders might experience rapid eye movement stages of sleep, a state in which humans have their most powerful dreams.

The study states that a nocturnal resting behaviour in a jumping spider where spiders suspend themselves upside down on a silk line to rest throughout the night.

The experts assumed they could be sleeping as this characteristic and strictly nocturnal posture are coupled with inactivity.

The adult spiders exhibited conspicuous phases with an elevated activity that included stereotyped leg curling behaviour as well as twitching of opisthosoma, spinnerets and limbs.

ALSO READ |Smoking, alcohol, high BMI: Study reveals risk factors responsible for almost half of cancer deaths

"While jumping spiders cannot move the lenses of their eyes, they can move their retinae to adjust their gaze—with muscles enabling axial, rotational, and directional movements of the entire retinal tube within the prosoma," a part of the study read.

Importantly, the researchers have said that how spiders are said to be sleeping is close to the sleeping patterns of humans. But the finding actually "begging the deeper question of whether jumping spiders may be experiencing visual dreams".

Study's lead author Rößler, who is a biologist at Germany’s University of Konstanz, told Scientific American: "They were just uncontrollably twitching in a way that really looked a lot like when dogs or cats dream and have their little REM phases."

In a separate interview with the Washington Post, Rößler said, "Whether that means that they’re visually experiencing this similar to how we experience visual dreams is a completely different story."

If spiders are really dreaming then they must be dreaming about flies. But the question is, what are nightmares about? Humans?

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.