Do chameleons dream???????

[mpbm31]

Early this morning about 3:30am central time I was awaken by a barking noise. It was my male ambilobe Harley. He was making a loud muffled barking noise and I got up and went in the room and turned on the light to find him still asleep making a crazy loud noise. I woke him up and he quit and I held him for a minute to make sure he was fine. He just sat there and he seemed ok so I sat him back in the cage to go back to sleep. I checked on him before I left for work and he was roaming the cage drinking and ate a cricket. I've been keeping chams for years and have never heard them make a loud crazy noise like that unless they were sick and wheezing real bad. Do you think he was having a bad dream???? lol

 

[jodeoh60]

Hey, I guess they DO dream, after hearing that report!

 

[bork da basher]

who can say what goes on their little heads. kind of cute if they do though. maybe a giant cricket was chasing him or something lol.

 

[Psychobunny]

Probably not, but no one really knows for certain.

Reptiles do not have a neocortex, the area of the brain known to be involved with dreaming and includes the amygdala, which only mammals have.

It is known though that chams may have some form of REM, but it is not known if they experience atonia or if they are actually partly awake.
Not much research has been done, and what has been done is questionable at best.

 

[Goggles]

Almost sounds like a cough. I would keep an eye on him for a possible RI.

 

[mpbm31]

cham dream????????

I know he's healthy and hasn't ever wheezed before. It was a weird loud barking sound instead that woke me up. I've purchased a female cham before that had a lung infection so I've been down that road with a sick cham and had to seperate her from all the others. After the event last night I will always keep a close eye on him to make sure he's ok but after I woke him up and he stopped and all has went well so far.

 

[Branman]

who can say what goes on their little heads. kind of cute if they do though. maybe a giant cricket was chasing him or something lol.

Haha....lol

 

[kaity]

Not sure if Chams dream, but it sounds like you had a crazy dream around 3:30 in the morning!

 

[arnau666]

well i hope your cham is fine and healthy !
as for the " do chams dream?" hmm maybe , but chances are low !
its hard for me to explain right now im so tired, but i will tomorrow !

 

[darryl99]

Probably not, but no one really knows for certain.

Reptiles do not have a neocortex, the area of the brain known to be involved with dreaming and includes the amygdala, which only mammals have.

It is known though that chams may have some form of REM, but it is not known if they experience atonia or if they are actually partly awake.
Not much research has been done, and what has been done is questionable at best.

"The oldest part of the brain, shared by all vertebrates, is the brain stem. In 1977, Allan Hobson and R McCarley discovered that electrochemical pulses from the brain stem create the stage of sleep in which most dreams occur."

It is possible that most vertebrates do in fact dream.

 

[Psychobunny]

"The oldest part of the brain, shared by all vertebrates, is the brain stem. In 1977, Allan Hobson and R McCarley discovered that electrochemical pulses from the brain stem create the stage of sleep in which most dreams occur."

It is possible that most vertebrates do in fact dream.

I dont think so.
I think what the avalible research shows is that most vertibrates may experience REM, not dreams.

Neurons in the brain stem do, in fact, send signals to other parts of the brain and is where REM occurs. But without a neocortex, it does not mean dreaming.
Mammals dream because they have advanced neocortex, or the "outer" newer evolved part of the brain. Advanced memory, problem solving, learning, emotional responce processing, etc.

Reptiles have very primitive brains which have evolved to suite the animals needs for survival. There is no reason for them to have anything else. They have no need for it, so evolution had no reason to sellect them for developing those areas of the brain which they will never need for their survial in their environment.