Animals lose sleep over environment

Animals lose sleep over environment

Animals are losing sleep and shedding pounds over climate change, according to a new study by Italian scientists.

The authors of the research, Mauro Cristaldi and Germana Szpunar, say shorter hibernations and weight loss are just some of the alarming symptoms of the onset of the greenhouse effect in animals.

The Rome university lecturers claim that the dormouse - an animal whose name stems from the Anglo-Norman word 'dormeus', meaning "sleepy one" - now hibernates five and a half weeks less on average than it did a couple of decades ago...

Other animals, such as sparrows, are losing weight as they struggle to adapt to the changes taking place in the environment .

The breeding cycles of birds, reptiles, turtles and rodents are being altered too. Great tits, for example, are laying eggs one week earlier and red kites are laying 10-11 days earlier than they were just nine years ago. Cristaldi and Szpunar said these animals are the "barometers" of a sick climate .

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This is a distressing article.... At some point, something is going to snap....

[edit on 7-6-2006 by loam]