News Animals

Reindeer can sleep while they chew

Time spent chewing cud eases the reindeer’s need for sleep, a new study finds

Two reindeer forage for food on the snowy ground.

Arctic reindeer make time for digesting by doing it in their sleep, a new study suggests.

Frank Meissner 

By Laura Sanders

In this busy holiday season, many of us multitask. Arctic reindeer are no exception. 

Reindeer can eat and sleep at the same time, a new study suggests. This timesaving strategy, described December 22 in Current Biology, adds to the number of ingenious ways animals can catch some z’s under tough conditions (SN: 11/30/23).