Can Sleep Be Cheated?: teacher key

How Animals Sleep, grade 11 edition, written for 11th grade. Elephants, sandpipers and frigatebirds seem to manage on very little sleep. Look at what scientists measured, and what they still cannot explain.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What did the elephant matriarchs show after a night without sleep?
   • No sleep rebound (answer)
   • A long nap
   • Fear
2. What was surprising about the male pectoral sandpipers?
   • They never slept
   • The males that slept least sired the most young (answer)
   • They slept 20 hours
3. Why do the scientists add a caveat to the sandpiper finding?
   • The birds were not studied
   • Sandpipers cannot fly
   • The birds that slept least still had a sleep deficit (answer)
4. Why can measuring sloths only in captivity mislead scientists?
   • Sloths kept by people may be more relaxed, so they may sleep differently from wild ones (answer)
   • Captive sloths never sleep
   • Zoos are too cold
5. What do sleep, torpor and hibernation have in common?
   • They happen only in summer
   • They are the same thing
   • Slowed heart rate and lower body temperature (answer)
6. What does rebound mean here?
   • Catching up on lost sleep (answer)
   • A bounce
   • A cold night

Words

• matriarchs: lead females
• rebound: catch-up sleep
• paralysis: unable to move
• torpor: deep rest
• caveat: a warning