The echidna manifests typical characteristics of rapid eye movement sleep

The failure to identify rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) in an early study of the echidna at an unmeasured ambient temperature (T(a)) was unexpected, as its brain stem structures resemble those that generate REMS in other mammals. However, typical mammalian REMS was evident in echidnas exposed to several T(a)s. The parallel presence of REMS in birds points to its reptilian origin. Copyright (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.