Investigation of Ape sleep evolution
This project aims to contribute to the growing primate sleep database Nunn & Samson (2018) have developed. While orangutan, chimpanzee, and human sleep quotas have been quantified, many ape species are still understudied. This project’s focus is to document gorilla, bonobo, and gibbon sleep quotas in order to craft a holistic view of ape sleep more broadly. This research contributes to testing evolutionary hypotheses in how modern human sleep evolved and how it differs from our closest living relatives, the apes. In addition, given sleep’s role in health and cognition in primates, this work will inform best practices for sleep site enrichment for large bodied and brained apes living in captive settings.
SHEL Members: Kaleigh R. Reyes, David R. Samson
References
Nunn, C. L. & Samson, D. R. (2018). Sleep in a comparative context: investigating how human sleep differs from sleep in other primates. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 166(3): 601-612.