Goats

When we fall asleep we lose consciousness and horses, dogs and cats do much the same when they go into deep sleep. By contrast the ruminants, or cud-chewing animals, appear not to sleep at all, or at best they sleep very little Experiments were carried out by the Royal Veterinary College, London, to find out more about sleep in goats and other ruminants. To begin with, close observation was kept on sheep and cattle for a 24-hour period but no general loss of consciousness was seen such as would have been apparent in other animals during sleep. There was an exception in four tame, bottle-fed lambs which seemed to be truly asleep for short periods of about 38 minutes each, and adult sheep apparently slept while lying down but they did so with the head and neck held in the normal upright position.

Ruminants are usually inactive for a total of about eight hours out of every 24, but these resting periods occur sporadically throughout the day and night. Goats often lie down but they always remain on the alert, moving the head and ears at the slightest alarm in order to trace the source of any sounds. While lying down they may become drowsy and this is indicated by a slight lowering of the head, and the ears drooping sideways, away from the normal erect position, but they will be quickly aroused by a sudden or unusual sound. Hearing seems to play the most important part in their watchfulness. Goats often ruminate while they are resting and if they are settled and undisturbed the rumination pattern becomes prolonged and very regular, whereas if they are constantly being disturbed rumination will become irregular and may even cease for a while. A goat does not close its eyes nor does it recline even when it is most deeply "asleep" and therefore it does not relax its muscles as do most other animals that enjoy true sleep. So far as could be told from the experiments carried out, goats do little more than fall into a state of somnolescence, or drowsiness. It is probable that the continuous activity of a goat's digestive organs necessary for rumination may mean that it cannot adopt the normal lying down posture needed for true sleep.