The missing cost of ecological sleep loss

Sleep serves many important functions. And yet, emerging studies over the last decade indicate that some species routinely sleep little, or can temporarily restrict their sleep to low levels, seemingly without cost. Taken together, these systems challenge the prevalent view of sleep as an essential state on which waking performance depends. Here, we review diverse case-studies, including elephant matriarchs, post-partum cetaceans, seawater sleeping fur seals, soaring seabirds, birds breeding in the high Arctic, captive cavefish, and sexually aroused fruit flies. We evaluate the likelihood of mechanisms that might allow more sleep than is presently appreciated. But even then, it appears these species are indeed performing well on little sleep. The costs, if any, remain unclear. Either these species have evolved a (yet undescribed) ability to supplant sleep needs, or they endure a (yet undescribed) cost. In both cases, there is urgent need for the study of non-traditional species so we can fully appreciate the extent, causes, and consequences of ecological sleep loss.