> You can't look at the sleep habits from a human perspective and assume that just because
> a species doesn't sleep many hours of the day they "didn't have a good night sleep".
I am looking at sleep habits in general...
I did
not say that the human sleep habits apply across all species! But not having a good night sleep or not having enough sleep does apply across all species whether or not a given species just needs 1 or 8 hours sleep!!!
Sleep is an
integral part of the full day cycle just like day/night is an integral part of the full day cycle...
> Different species need different amounts of sleep.
Of course. I am certainly
not disputing that!
> Just because an elephant only needs three or four hours of sleep doesn't mean it
> didn't get enough sleep and are "tired and sleepy".
Yes it
does if, for example, the elephant only can get 1 hour of sleep for an entire week! 1 out of 3 or 4 is a
much bigger percentage !!!
> Unless you are talking of evolutionary forces,
Of course. The amount of sleep needed in a day cycle is a basic building block of all reality and, as such, it also evolves in terms of how energy is being processed by the various species...
> and then I would be curious about why cats sleeep all the time.
Well, most cats are awake at night and, as such, they seem to be a species that processes energy in a very unique way. Maybe it is because they are looking for roddents (rats, mice) that also seem to come out at night!
> Surely in your example cats would evolve to need less sleep so they could spend more
> time in the full waking capacity for hunting ?
Not necessarily if their primary food supply in the wild comes out at night! and, of course, that seems to be the case with mice, rats and other roddents...
-wirelessguru1
