Jumping Spiders Seem to Experience REM-Like Sleep, Might Even Dream

Jumping spiders are arguably the cutest of arachnids.

Roessler took to Twitter to deliver arundown on the study’s findings.

Roessler shared video footage of jumping spiders in the Twitter thread.

“Regular phases of curling up their legs and twitching in what seemed like uncontrolled movements.

Reminding us a lot of sleeping dogs or cats, we asked: could this be REM sleep?

“the researcher tweeted.

While filming hanging jumping spiders at night, we noticed surprising things happening.

Regular phases of curling up their legs and twitching in what seemed like uncontrolled movements.

Reminding us a lot of sleeping dogs or cats, we asked: could this be REM sleep?

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Humans and some other animals experiencerapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a state associated with dreaming.

Spiders don’t move their eyes like humans do, but they do move their retinas.

The scientists aren’t ready to declare that jumping spiders are dreaming, butRoessler calledthe possibility “exhilarating.”