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Saturday, March 15, 2014

When Bow is Dreaming

This morning, Bow and I went outside to play. We could see the sun streaming in through the woods behind our house.


It's nice to be outside on a pleasant clear morning.


Bow did the usual things. He vocalized and displayed.


Between displays, Bow would pat me on the back in a friendly manner, just to let me know that his acts of self-assertion were in no way intended to reflect on his deference or regard for me. He was just letting the world know how he felt. Then he would invite me to join him in a game of chase. This happened several times.

But when he was done, Bow signaled that he wanted to go back inside, asked for his blanket and settle down for a nap.


While he was napping, I noticed that every once in a while Bow's toes would wriggle. Can you spot the wriggling toes in this video?


I watched the toe wriggle event happening more than a couple of times, and I wondered what Bow was dreaming.


When you spend twelve hours a day with a chimpanzee, you get to know him really well. But there are some things that Bow may never tell me. Such as why he wriggles his toes when he's asleep.

4 comments:

  1. I have walked and talked in my sleep before, according to other people, and I really do not know why. There are scientific studies that talk about why this happens.

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    1. Hi, Julia, sleep walking is unusual, though sleep talking is less. One of my FB friends, Kelly, who read this blog post, suggested this link would be helpful in answering the toe wriggle question: http://www.livescience.com/39225-why-people-twitch-falling-asleep.html

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    2. I have acted out my dreams sleep walking, and another time I woke up with leaves on my feet. I sort of remember having a dream of walking to school that night, and whereas I do not think I went that far, I do believe I ventured outside. There was an unfortunate case a few years back where a man started running in his sleep, and he was hit by a truck.

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    3. Wow! That can be dangerous. I am glad nothing bad happened to you while you were sleep walking. Did it only happen when you were a child?

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