If some bee species don't get enough sleep, they'll perform their waggle dances, the bee equivalent of GPS, 'with a less precise direction component,' Klein says via email, giving their spectators less helpful information on where to find food.

Some butterflies that don't get enough rest forage poorly and lay their eggs on the wrong types of plants. In lab studies, fruit flies subjected to social isolation slept less and ate more, and sleep-deprived mice ate more during their recovery. “Sleep deprivation, a form of stress, can elicit increased eating in humans and some non-human animals alike,” says Barrett Klein, an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse who also studies sleep biology. Sleep, for all mammals, is key-and not having enough can be harmful. Here are some other ways animals react to challenging situations. Eating more likely compensated for the energy lost while experiencing stress, the authors say. (Read how extreme heat can stress wildlife.)Īfter observing some of the wild reptiles and taking their blood, the scientists found that during flyovers, the lizards released more of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as moved less and ate more. Part of their habitat includes the Fort Carson Army Base, where low-flying aircraft regularly produce sounds louder than what they’d experience naturally. But sometimes, it’s people that cause the trauma.įor instance, a new study shows the rare Colorado checkered whiptail lizard stress-eats in response to noise. The main challenges faced by wild animals are whether they’ll find enough food or whether they become someone else’s food. Many of us react to stressful situations by drinking too much coffee, sleeping too much or not enough, or overeating (to meet this story’s deadline, for instance, I had yogurt, four cookies, and a ton of grapes).Īs it turns out, several wild animals also experience physical reactions to stress.

The song of the willa