Research proves that crocodile legend

A recent study shows that rumors from ancient times about crocodiles have come true.

The ability to hunt when sleeping in crocodiles is real

Australian Aboriginal people have handed down a myth about crocodiles - the ability to hunt even when sleeping.

And so far, scientists at La Trobe University (Australia) have been able to officially confirm this information. In particular, crocodiles have the ability to "single hemispherical" - unihemispheric sleep - that is, only one side of the brain hemisphere stops working when sleeping, while the other hemisphere remains active. In other words, when they sleep, they only close one eye, the other eye to look around.

In the past, this ability appeared in many birds and reptiles, even some marine animals such as dolphins and sea lions.

With the ability to sleep single hemispheres, birds can sense danger, or dolphins continue to swim even while sleeping. However, so far only the first evidence has shown that this ability appears in crocodiles.

Dolphins are one of the species that have the ability to "sleep single hemispheres".

To validate this, the researchers observed the saltwater crocodiles in 24 hours, recording when they slept and observed their reaction when humans appeared in the process.

The results showed that crocodiles always tend to sleep open an eye when there are people around. Even when people have left, they continue to look at the gap that has seen people before.

For the first time, the ability to sleep "eyes closed eyes" was discovered on crocodiles.

"This finding is really noticeable when it comes to changing our notions about the evolution of sleep. Sleep is still thought to be" normal, " said lead researcher Michael Kelly . may be more hidden than we think. "

The next step of this study is to confirm once again that crocodiles always sleep like that. To do this, Kelly said she will record crocodile brain waves when they are sleeping.

The study was published in Experimental Biology (UK).