Wildlife: how does the horse sleep?

One day my daughter saw enough Western cartoons and TV shows devoted to horses, and asked me: "Mom, how does the horse sleep?" To be honest, at first I was confused. The fact is that we are urban dwellers, we do not have our own agriculture and barnyard. That's why I could not answer my daughter unequivocally. Shame on me, friends! So, let's understand this interesting question together.

How does the horse sleep?

To answer this question it was enough to open any book about the life of horses! That's what I found out. Basically, horses and horses sleep standing up, but not always! Knowingly my instinct warned me that not everything is "clean" here! The fact is that for a full rest this unearthly animal just needs to take a nap for at least a couple of hours lying down. This will allow them to gain strength for a new day. But still their main dream is, so to speak, on its feet.

Why does the horse sleep standing up?

"Mechanism of action

And the truth! Why? To answer this question, we must first understand how they do it. Digging into the relevant literature more deeply, I found out that a unique structure of bones helps them to sleep standing up! The fact is that the bones and ligaments in the legs of horses are arranged in such a way that they are very easily blocked. It is thanks to this that complete relaxation occurs while the horse is asleep. Her muscles relax, and the total body weight is quite reliably "suspended" on the blocked limbs.

Why standing and not lying?

I reported above that the horse sleeps standing all the main time of its rest. But why? It's simple! The fact that a long rest in the recumbent position of our artiodactyls is simply inconvenient. After all, it's quite heavy and massive animals with huge muscles, which can not be said about their fragile bones ... If horses and horses stay in the same position for a long time, it will cause the animal to get injured.

Self-defense

Digging into the works of some scientists and naturalists, among whom was the well-known traveler Przhevalsky, I learned not only how the horse sleeps, but also how it, roughly speaking, "reached such a life"! Scientists believe that this is an ordinary habit, which eventually developed to a protective mechanism. The fact is that horse speed is their main "self defense" in the wild, and a standing position during sleep can support the animal in "combat" readiness. In other words, if they are in danger, they can immediately start to run! Probably, it is not necessary to explain that to any animal with long and thin legs (antelopes, camels, gazelles, cows), in order to be able to rise from its reclining position, it is necessary to spend considerably more time than others!

Mutual help

So, we know that for a short time the horses doze lying down. But even for this insignificant period of time they need some kind of guarantee that a predator does not wander nearby, ready to have dinner with them ... In the role of such "insurance" are their brethren! When the horses keep their herds, they guard each other in turn: while one is asleep, the other stands side by side, and vice versa.

And finally

That's the whole answer to the question of how the horse sleeps, friends! Now I can tell my child exactly and confidently about this! It remains only to wait until the daughter wakes up ... Good luck!