By Tim Binnall
A fascinating study wherein spiders were observed as they sleep found that the creatures exhibit traits associated with dreaming. The remarkable research was reportedly the brainchild of German behavioral ecologist Daniela Robler, who was intrigued when she found that some jumping spiders which she had collected for a different experiment were suddenly motionless near the top of their enclosures. Initially thinking that the arachnids had died, she was amazed when she looked closer and realized that they were sleeping while hanging from a strand of their web, which was a heretofore unseen technique exhibited by the creatures.
Fascinated by this newfound behavior, Robler equipped a night vision camera with an magnifying glass and filmed the sleeping spiders overnight. Watching the footage later, she was stunned to see that the creatures experienced occasional minute-long 'episodes' in which they would inexplicably move their legs. "They were just uncontrollably twitching in a way that really looked a lot like when dogs or cats dream and have their little REM phases," Robler marveled. Now wondering if the creatures were also having rapid eye movements while they slept, she continued filming the sleeping spiders and ultimately documented several instances in which their eyes moved only during the moments that the bodily twitching occurred.
Suspecting that the spiders are, indeed, dreaming, Robler and her team hope to prove that is the case, though they must show that the creatures are actually sleeping when the episodes happen and that their brains are active at the time. The latter matter is no small feat as the arachnids possess tiny brains which the researchers will have to figure out how to examine without killing the sleeping animals. Alas, even if the group can ultimately prove their hypothesis, what exactly the spiders are dreaming about will undoubtedly remain a mystery, though one can imagine the creatures might have nightmares about being swished by a shoe.