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Behavioral sleep observations have shown that:
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animals have preferred sleeping sites
(nests, trees, in the open field)
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animals have typical sleep postures
which are influenced by ambient temperature (e.g. rodents curl up, herbivores
can obtain sleep in a recumbent and standing posture)
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usually paradoxical sleep cannot be recognized by
body posture (exception: giraffe)
Continuous observations of undisturbed animals have shown that:
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large herbivores (giraffe, elephant) obtain more sleep than was assumed
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specific sleep profiles depend on the environmental conditions
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