Latest news with #AlisonAshbury
The Star
03-07-2025
- Health
- The Star
Orangutans also need an afternoon nap sometimes, researchers find
Orangutans, just like humans, also need to compensate for lost sleep with naps, according to new research. Watching them snooze was no easy task for researchers, they say. When we humans don't get enough rest at night, the next day we feel the strong urge to take a nap. It turns out that orangutans are no different. "If an orangutan does not get enough sleep, it does what any sleep-deprived human would do: It climbs into bed, lies down and takes a nap," says Alison Ashbury from Germany's Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour (MPI-AB). Ashbury, lead author of the study published in the journal Current Biology, lays out that moving through treetops, finding food, solving problems and maintaining social relationships are all physically and cognitively demanding tasks for orangutans. Wild Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) typically sleep for almost 13 hours per night, according to the research team. However, this duration can reportedly be shorter if other orangutans are sleeping nearby, if the night is particularly cold, or if the animals have travelled long distances during the day. It turns out that, just like us, orangutans also feel the need to take a nap if they haven't had enough sleep the night before. Photo: Robert Michael/dpa Ashbury noted that it was interesting that simply being near other orangutans was associated with shorter sleep durations. "Imagine staying up late when hanging out with your friends, or your roommate snoring so loudly in the morning that you wake up early. I think it's a bit like that," she said. Orangutans may prioritise socialising over sleeping, or their sleep may be disturbed by the presence of others – or both. The researchers observed how long the animals spent in their daytime nests depending on their night-time sleep and found a clear compensatory effect: when the orangutans had slept less at night, their daytime naps were 5 to 10 minutes longer for every hour of lost night-time sleep. On 41% of the observed days, orangutans reportedly took at least one nap, with an average duration of 76 minutes. Additionally, on days when their naps were shorter, they took more naps. "Even a short nap can have a significant restorative effect on humans," said co-author Meg Crofoot, director at MPI-AB. "It is possible that these naps help orangutans recover physiologically and cognitively after a poor night's sleep, just like humans." The study's findings expand the understanding of the evolutionary origins and ultimate functions of sleep. "Why have animals, from humans to primates, spiders and even jellyfish, evolved to spend such a large part of their lives in this vulnerable, unconscious state?" Crofoot asked. The research team analysed the behaviour of adult orangutans at the Suaq Balimbing Monitoring Station on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. They used a long-term dataset on nest usage from 53 animals over 276 nights and 455 days between 2007 and 2021. Compared to other orangutan populations, the Suaq orangutans were found to build daytime nests more frequently. These nests are simpler and quicker to construct – usually in less than two minutes – than night-time nests but still provide a stable and safe place for a nap. Observing the animals while they napped was not easy, the researchers said. An orangutan builds a nest high up in a tree every evening, spending about 10 minutes bending, weaving and breaking branches, supplemented with a mattress of leaves. "From our vantage point on the ground, we usually cannot see orangutans in their night-time nests at all, but we can hear them getting comfortable," explained Caroline Schuppli, a group leader at MPI-AB. "At some point, everything becomes quiet and still. And in the morning, it's exactly the opposite." The researchers interpreted the quiet phase as the sleep phase. – By Tatjana Bojic/dpa
Perth Now
30-06-2025
- Science
- Perth Now
Orangutans have power naps to make up for lost sleep
Orangutans enjoy power naps. Scientists studied 53 of the wild primates for more than a year in the rainforests of the Indonesian island of Sumatra and found that they mirror humans by catching up on shuteye during the day if they get less rest at night. Orangutans typically get nearly 13 hours of sleep at night in big leafy nests built high in trees. But when their slumbers are cut short, they make up with a 76-minute power nap — or longer if the previous night was shorter. Alison Ashbury, the study's first author and a scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour and the University of Konstanz in Germany, said: "Moving through the canopy, finding food, solving problems, navigating social relationships; these are all tiring and cognitively demanding tasks. "When an orangutan doesn't get enough sleep, it does what any sleep-deprived human might do: it climbs into bed, lies down, and takes a nap."
