Half Awake, All the Time: teacher key

How Animals Sleep, grade 5 edition, written for 5th grade. An ostrich sleeps with its eyes open and whales float like pillars. See how scientists find out when an animal is really asleep.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What did the helmets with electrodes measure on the ostriches?
   • Body temperature, brain activity, eye movements and neck muscles (answer)
   • Only their weight
   • How fast they ran
2. How did the researchers check that sperm whales were asleep?
   • The whales did not react to a boat until it touched one (answer)
   • The whales snored
   • The whales closed both eyes
3. What does a bird that sleeps with half its brain do with its eyes?
   • Closes both
   • Closes only the eye on the sleeping side (answer)
   • Keeps both open
4. Why do the scientists warn about studying animals only in captivity?
   • It can lead to wrong conclusions about wild animals (answer)
   • Zoo animals never sleep
   • Cameras do not work there
5. Why can a sleeping ostrich fool you?
   • It hides in sand
   • It sits still with its eyes open and neck upright (answer)
   • It sleeps in the water
6. What does torpor mean here?
   • A deep rest (answer)
   • A kind of bird
   • A fast dive

Words

• electrodes: sensor pads
• upright: straight up
• torpor: deep rest
• metabolism: body's energy use