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I noticed that different kinds of animals sleep in different positions and I ask myself, "does this effect if animals dream?" When I was younger, I had several cats, some inside and some outside, and they all acted differently. The cats who stayed indoor would find a corner or something soft to sleep on, even each other. I really don't know where the outside cats slept all the time. I do remember seeing them under the porch asleep and under cars. I was too young to remember if they looked like they were dreaming or just sleeping. As I got older, I got a dog for a pet but I don't really remember much about it. Although, the whole time I was growing up my dad had fish. There were always fish swimming around a tank and I can not for the life me remember a time that they would be sleeping. They were always moving or just being still and looking. Fish are interesting animals because it's hard to know or even tell if they sleep much less dream. After my daughter was born, we got some cats and then two hamsters and later some goldfish and finally a Chihuahua. The cats that we had were twin cats named Tigger and Tiger. They didn't get much sleep at the time because Robin, my daughter, was around two years old and was constantly doing something with them. If they did dream while they slept, I think it would be a dream about Robin and how she tortured them. She would ride them like they were horses and just treat them like every kind of animal but a cat. I could be wrong but who knows I could be right. When Robin was five years old she got two hamsters which were very interesting. They slept all day long and were up all night long. They slept on each other in every weird position they could come up with. They were always very still while they slept so I personally don't think they dreamed. Shortly after we got the hamsters they died so we got our next pet which were some goldfish. I would like to tell you about them but they died also two days after we got them. Our last pet, which has survived, is a Chihuahua. She is the funniest little dog that there is. She does sleep a lot, either on the couch, under the computer and at night, she has to be next to a human body. She will bark and even move while she sleeps which I believe is a sign of her dreaming about something. If she moved as much as she does when she is awake she would be hilarious when she slept but unfortunately she doesn't. My experience with all my pets throughout the years have given me the curiosity of whether they were dreaming or not. Although, I have observed all my pets sleeping, I still have questions that I don't know the answers to. This is the purpose of my paper, to find those answers. Questions that I would like to find out are "Do all animals dream or just some or maybe none at all?" How can you tell if animals are dreaming or just sleeping? If you have more than one pet, how are they different when they are sleeping? Are fish animals and do they dream? What do animals dream about? Finally, does the sleeping position effect if animals are dreaming? My goal is to learn the answers to these questions by the end of my search and if I'm not successful in my search, I hope to gain some knowledge about animals and dreams. When beginning my search I had no idea where to start. My topic was not a commonly known topic so I knew it would be hard to find information. I began to look in the Library Databases on the UTPB Website first. I dug and dug in different databases and wasn't having any luck finding articles about animals and dreams. I began to tell myself that this was going to be a long journey. I got discouraged when I couldn't find any articles at the beginning and gave up on the databases. On April 1st, I went to the Howard County Library in Big Spring, Texas to look for books. I was in Big Spring visiting my parents so I decided to go to the library to see what I could find. I didn't find what I was looking for but didn't come up empty handed either. I did get three books about dreams and Freud. Unfortunately, I did not use those resources in my findings. Having a break from the databases I decided to give them another try. On April 8th, I found two articles on the Biology Digest database. The first article I found was "Do Fish Sleep and What's That on Your Eyelash?" This was very interesting because one of the questions I wanted to find out was "Do fish dream?" The second article was "Animal Minds, Animal Dreams." This article is based on animals and their consciousness. I used both of these articles in my findings and my survey. This was a turning point in my journey because I now knew that I could find resources for my topic. My next stop was the UTPB Library to find more books. I looked on the online catalog and searched for animals and dreams. A whole list of books came up and I was just stunned that they had books about my topic. Of all the books, I found three to be the most helpful. "Minds of Their Own: Thinking and Awareness in Animals" had a couple pages about dreams. They focused on one animal, which was the ape and asking about its inner thoughts. The next book was called "Animal Minds" and it also had a couple pages about dreams. This book focused on animal dreams and fantasies. The last book was "The Animal Mind" and its focus was on do animal's dream. I used all three books in my findings because they all dealt with animals and dreams but in different ways. My journey was coming along but I was far from finished. I still had one more library to visit and an interview to do. I visited the Ector County Library on April 13th and came out with one book. I was in search of a book about animals and their sleep positions. One of my questions to answer was if the sleep position of animals effect if they can dream. To answer this I needed to find some resources to help. Up in the children's section of the library, I found a book called "Animals Don't Wear Pajamas: A Book about Sleeping." This book was very helpful because it gave sleep positions for many animals including the fish. At this point in my journey, I decided I had enough books and needed to focus on my interview. I had no idea where to begin to find someone for my interview. I had in mind about interviewing a veterinarian but I didn't like the idea of interviewing one vet. In class, we were told that we could do surveys for our interview. This sounded like the perfect solution to my problem so I choose to do a survey. I wanted to get responses from people who had pet's verses veterinarians who had background knowledge of animals. I was going to compare the answers to see if they were similar or different. I began my interview surveys on April 16th. My surveys contained questions that I wanted to find out at the beginning of my search. There were a total of seven questions. The fist step I took was emailing a survey to my mother in Big Spring. She printed it out and took one to the veterinarian in Big Spring. She said he was very interested in filling the survey out so she left it with him and picked it up a couple days later. She also handed out surveys to people she worked with and went to school with. She got a total of seven surveys and some of the people thought that the topic was weird. I found that interesting because I wasn't sure how many people would comment on the survey topic. While she passed out those surveys, I was busy emailing surveys to veterinarians that I found on the web. I choose to email vets because I was curious to find out if they would respond or blow me off. To my amazement two animal clinics emailed back. One emailed back on the same day I sent it out and the other emailed the next day. The first email they answered some of the seven questions but not all of them. The second email was quite different from the first. This person had asked for a time frame so that he could do some research on the topic. He also gave me a website that listed veterinarian schools and he suggested that I email them instead of veterinarians. Although I emailed him back with a time frame, I never got a response back. During the week of April 17th I didn't receive any more emails from the vets I sent surveys to. This was a little discouraging but on the other hand it was neat that two were willing to respond. On April 20th, I gave the survey to the students in my English class. I wrote the survey on the board and it was up the students if they wanted to participate. Not everyone had to do the survey because it was mainly for people with pets. I got a total of six surveys from the class. When I got home, I noticed that I had more surveys on people with pets than professional veterinarians. I really wanted more responses from vets so on April 21st, I went to the website of veterinarian schools that the previous vet had given me. I sent out surveys to different schools hoping for a response. Then out of the blue, it dawned on me that I could email some zoos. I found three zoos to email and I went with some of the bigger zoos such as Philadelphia Zoo, San Diego Zoo and Columbus Zoo. At this point in my journey I just waited to see if they would respond. While waiting I started my rough draft of my paper. I checked my email on April 23rd and found that I had gotten a response from the Philadelphia Zoo. This man was very interesting because he answered the survey except on the fish question. Although he put "beats me" he still answered with a definition copied from the Britannica website. He was the only response that I received on that day. I checked the email again on April 24th and noticed that he emailed me back. On his second email, he gave an addition to the question concerning fish being animals. He copied a chart from their docent reference manual about major classification groups. It seemed as if the fish question really bothered him and he wanted to find out more information. In a way I thought this was amusing because I never expected anyone to really look up information for me. I received two more emails that day from two of the schools and finally got my last email later that day. This last email was quite different from the rest because he had asked not to be identified in my report. He also made the comment that I might get more responses if I had indicated whether or not their responses would be kept confidential. I had never thought about mentioning that on the survey until he brought it up. The main part of his email that was really different from everyone else is that he asked if I had IRB approval to do research involving human subjects (i.e. those I am surveying). I had no idea what he was talking about so that led me to search IRB approval. I found a website that explained what IRB was and according to it I did not have to have approval because classroom research does not meet the IRB's definition of research. This was the last of my responses and I found all of them to be unique and different. They were very helpful in my findings in one way or another. This ended my journey for finding resources to help answer my questions. Gathering all the information from the books, databases and interviews led to the findings of my search. There are different views to whether animals can dream or not. According to Lesley J. Rogers, "Only from the animals that have learnt to communicate with us by signing or pointing to symbols can we expect to find out what they are thinking about" (176). The three book resources all agree that there are two types of sleep. The first is a relatively low-frequency pattern or a deep sleep. The second is called REM sleep. This is an irregular sleep and is accompanied by rapid eye movements (REM's). Humans are more likely to say they were dreaming during REM sleep. Comparable recordings from sleeping birds and mammals show similar patterns of REM sleep, indicating that they also dream (Griffin 259). Although Gould agrees that some birds and mammals do have phases of REM sleep, which suggest the animals are dreaming, he also believes body movements effect the dreams. According to Gould, "Until recently, about the best evidence for dreaming in animals came from casual observation of pets, who sometimes in their sleep exhibit body movements (including running, biting, and mating) and produce subdued vocalizations that suggest they are reliving an experience" (168). It is still hard to determine for sure that animals can dream but if there were some way of knowing for sure it would be very interesting. To my knowledge, no one has attempted to ask sign language trained apes about their dreams, but it should be possible (Rogers 177). If it is possible to ask the apes then why doesn't anyone ask? I guess we will never know for sure if the apes are never given the opportunity to answer. The only evidence that we have right now is the REM sleep and body movements. Even with this evidence, are they sure that the animals are really dreaming? According to Griffin, "Darwin and many others have been impressed by the fact that sleeping dogs sometimes move and vocalize in ways that suggest they are dreaming; their movements resemble those of feeding, running, biting and even copulation. They sometimes snarl and bark. Some observers of sleeping animals have concluded that these motions and vocalizations accompany dreams related to recent experiences" (258). Griffin and Gould both agree that body movements relates to the animals dreaming but they both say it "suggests" that they are dreaming. This leads to me to wonder if I should believe that animals do dream according to body movements. The last book resource was on the position of animals when the sleep. This book was very informative and interesting. According to Feldman, "At night elephant's lie down on their sides and go to sleep. But after two or three hours they are no longer comfortable on the ground. They wake up and rock themselves back and forth until they are on their feet again. If they are still tired, the elephants will finish their sleep standing up" (3). Although this book does not say if the animals are dreaming while sleeping in the positions, it is still informative on the position of the animals. It does make you wonder if they could be dreaming while they sleep in these positions. Sea otters sleep floating in the water after wrapping themselves in strands of seaweed. These seaweed ties keep the otters from drifting away with the sway of the sea (Feldman 14). The next animals in the book bring me to my next question "Do fish sleep and dream?" The parrot fish has a bubblelike covering that oozes out of the fish's skin. Each night, it can take as long as half an hour for the fish to produce its blanket. And it will take the fish the same amount of time to get free of this slimy covering in the morning (Feldman 18). The octopus is an underwater daytime sleeper. When the sun's rays filter down to the ocean floor, the octopus snuggles into a cave. Sometimes, the octopus wedges a shell in front of the cave's opening as if it were closing a bedroom door (Feldman 5). Another fish is the jewelfish, the father and mother fish work together to get their young, called fry fish, to sleep each night. The mother jewelfish moves to the resting spot. She stays there, waving her body and her fins as a signal for her fry to come in to sleep. Meanwhile, the father jewelfish scurries around searching for any fry that are trying to stay up past bedtime. Gently but firmly, the father scoops up any strays in his mouth. Then he swims back and blows the little fish into their nest (Feldman 21). According to Doug Stewart, "Fish most likely do not dream" (32:57-58). Invertebrates and cold-blooded vertebrates do not sleep (Cartmill 107:16-20). There are three opinions about fish and sleep. Feldman says fish sleep, Cartmill says fish do not sleep and Stewart says fish do not dream. There can not a definite answer to the question asked because who do say is right and who is wrong. I think that if fish are capable of sleeping then they are capable of dreaming but I will never know the true answer. The interview surveys conducted had various answers. According to all of the surveys from the people who have pets, 13 said they think their pet dreams and 2 said no. Twelve of the thirteen said the reason for believing their pet dreams is because they whine, bark and move. The one that was different said the reason is because of rapid eye movements. The two that said no stated "No, I just don't think they do" and the other "I have an extremely lazy cat that sleeps all day and night and never moves" (people survey). When comparing the answers to the veterinarian's answers they are almost the same. They all agree that animals do dream and one said maybe. The reasons are basically the same except one put "Yes, I think animals (at least mammals) do dream, because the nervous system of mammals is very similar to ours and they also have similar sleep-wake patterns as humans. For lower animals, such as birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and maybe even some mammalian species this might not be true however. (Vet. Survey). The Zoo docent stated "maybe, and particularly among the great apes. If we concede that the chimps intelligence is equal to a 3 or 4 year old human child then, perhaps, the chimp also dreams" (Zoo Survey). Question number 3 was if they had more than one pet, how are they different when they are sleeping? Some of the people with pet's survey said they have different sleeping patterns, different positions and different places to sleep. According to one survey, "Dogs, I think, are much like humans in that each one is different and unique from each other. Each of our 5 dogs has different mannerisms. They all sleep differently; one stretches as long as she can to hog their entire blanket. One likes to sleep on the tile to keep her belly cold. One curls up on the blanket. One likes to be snuggled up to the dog that stretches out. The last one has to sleep in a bed next to a human body in order to sleep. Otherwise, if he does not get to sleep on the bed, he will howl until someone gets him" (People Survey). Some of the veterinarians did not answer this question and the ones who did had similar answers from above. When animals' move while asleep, does that mean they are dreaming? This was the next question on the survey. According to one people with pets survey "If twitching, I believe they are dreaming, just rolling over they are sleeping." One stated "No, when they are dreaming the breathing gets more shallow and movements are jerky. (People Survey). Another stated "I'm not sure. I guess it would depend on how they moved during sleep" (People Survey). One survey said, "When our dogs were puppies, they had to get their tails and claws clipped. Before they went to the vet they did not do anything while sleeping. After they got back from the vet, they all cry and jump in their sleep. The are obviously having nightmares about the traumatic experience." The vet responses were "Rapid eye movement, puddling of feet and vocalization" (Vet Survey). One vet said, "I think so however I have no proof" (Vet Survey). Another vet responded with "Not necessarily. Same as humans, we have in voluntary movements. It is the combination with the noises etc that led me to believe they dream. I wonder if research has been done. I don't know" (Vet Survey). According to Doug Stewart from National Wildlife Journal, he says that fish do not dream, do you agree (107: 16-20)? All of the people with pets said they agree with Stewart that fish do not dream. One survey disagreed with Stewart because "A living thing is a living thing, all living things have thoughts of course each animal has dreams" (People Survey). One survey said "I wouldn't think fish dreamed but that's because I've never witnesses any signs of it" (People Survey). Another survey stated "I didn't even know fish slept" (People Survey). According to another survey, "I didn't think fish even slept- I've never seen a fish sleeping- only swimming around while appearing to always be on the alert" (People Survey). The vets had their own opinion on the question. One Vet said, " Honestly I'm not even sure if fish sleep much less dream. Reminds me of the philosophical question of whether or not fish know what it is like to experience fire" (Vet Survey). Another vet stated this was something he never thought about. (Vet Survey). Another response was "I have no knowledge of their brain function" (Vet Survey). The last vet said, "Fish are different since they must keep moving to allow them to breathe. I do not see how they can sleep or dream" (Vet Survey). The last question asked on the survey was "In your opinion, if animals dream, do you think they are dreaming about food and predators or events that do not really exist in the real world or both?" I think they dream of things like humans do. I think they dream of the traumatic things they have gone through. They probably dream of goofy things like life-size bones and homes with grass floors, lots of toys and really nice humans that let them run and bark all they want (People Survey). My opinion is that they dream about food and predators more than anything else (People Survey). One survey stated "I think my dogs dream about chasing cats and playing. I don't think they have the mental capacity to dream of things out of this world" (People Survey). Another survey said, "I think they dream about chasing things, maybe food. I have no idea if they dream of fantasy or not" (People Survey). If my cats dream, it's got to be about food. That's the only experience she has when she's awake. I would guess that they dream about predators or anything they may have experienced in the real world. It's hard for me to imagine that animals have the cognitive ability to dream of fantasy that they have never experienced. I would guess that they only have the ability to recall events they have already experienced (People Survey). The vets had similar responses such as "I feel they only dream about experiences they have been involved with. Animals do not reason, like humans, therefore out of world experiences cannot be developed in their minds" (Vet Survey). One vet responded with "Both. By watching how an animal can play for hours with a stick proves to me that they have an imagination" (Vet Survey). Both- same as humans. Fears etc may come out that way (Vet Survey). Supposedly dreams are in some way related to events or experiences we have had, so I suspect animals (if they do in fact dream) probably dream of things associated with their real world (Vet Survey). As my journey comes to a conclusion, I feel that I have learned a lot about animals and dreams but I believe my search failed. My questions did get answered one way or another and I know information about those questions but they are not facts. The research that I found did not give any scientific evidence that animal's dream. Most of the research and responses were of opinions or there were too many different answers to one question. I feel that I can't choose whom to believe or not to believe so my conclusion is that I have valuable information but not accurate information. Although my search failed because I didn't get scientific evidence that animals dream it still succeeded. I did not come out empty handed with this search; I have learned interesting information that I did not know before I began my journey. As to whether or not my questions got answered, in some way they did just not like I had hoped. I wanted more fact filled answers rather than opinionated answers. This search was very interesting in the fact that the topic was different. Some of the people who did the surveys commented to me that they thought my survey was weird. I imagine they believe it was weird because you normally don't think about animals dreaming. The veterinarian responses were very different and not what I expected. I've never imagined them wanting to do research on the survey or ask me questions. I have learned a great deal through this paper. Now everytime I see an animal I will know how to tell if they are dreaming or not. Bibliography: Cartmill, Matt. "Animal Minds, Animal Dreams." Biology Digest Vol. 107:16-20. March 1998. *http:// firstsearch.oclc.org/:next=NEXTCMD…cs=1:/fsrec4.txt%22%3Asessionid =1725001:4* English 1302 Evening Class Survey. April 20, 2000. Feldman, Eve B. Animals Don't Wear Pajamas: A Book About Sleeping. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1992. Gould, James L., and Carol Grant Gould. The Animal Mind. New York: Scientific American Library, 1994. Griffin, Donald R. Animal Minds. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992. People with Pets Survey. Various Dates. Rogers, Lesley J. Minds of Their Own: Thinking and Awareness in Animals. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997. Stewart, Doug. "Do Fish Sleep and What's That on Your Eyelash?" Biology Digest Vol. 32:57- 58. April-May, 1994. *http://firstsearch.oclc.org/:next=NEXTCMD…cs=1:/fsre c4.txt%22%3Asessionid=1725001:4* Veterinarians. Email Survey. Various Dates. Zoos. Email Survey. Various Dates. Word Count: 4749
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