Thread: What do you think animals dream about?

Good question.

You need self-awarness to have lucid dreams which apparantly very few animals do. One's that we know do would be elephants, monkies, and whales. Maybe it's possible that they could lucid dream without trying like some of us here (not me).

I think I heard somewhere that it could be like a defence mechanism for some animals. They need to be reminded of what stress's them out in order to survive. Having nightmares would probably allow the animal to become more stressed out and survival conscious.

Example, a deer may appear to be really terrified of you because it has had nightmares of what potential predators are capable of. Predators would probably have fewer nightmares because they are not being hunted and therefor, appear to be fearless.

But since no one knows exactly why we dream, that makes the question more difficult to answer. I could be wrong about all this so don't judge me!

Would a cat have enough self-awareness, they're the smartest animal besides us and monkeys. All animals dream though and you didn't answer my question.

Originally Posted by Zezarict

Would a cat have enough self-awareness, they're the smartest animal besides us and monkeys.

And dolphins.

I think it's possible that a specific breed of some cats could be smart enough to recognize itself. Not sure what though.

Do you have a cat?

Edit: to answer your question, I don't know if animals are smart enough to lucid dream. I believe it's possible though.

Probably not lucid dreams, but I imagine my dogs like to either chase things, or else are running for their lives a lot of the time. Perhaps we should hook them up to an EEG machine.

ALOT of animals dream, check this out http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/dreams-0131.html

Now i don't know so much about Lucid Dreaming, if it does happen it is probably at random and very rare. Although i could be wrong

That would be funny to catch your pet reality checking. Like a dog trying to put his paw through the other or trying to pinch it's nose.

I just thought I add that

Nobody knows what animals dream about, because we can't really communicate with them in a sophisticated enough way in order to get that info from them, but I would guess that animals dream about things from their daily animal lives, perhaps with a quirky dreamy twist to them. Basically not unlike how we dream. I'd seen my dad's late mutt in REM cycles a couple times, and his body seemed to be twitching...perhaps he was dreaming about running around outside, possibly chasing some little rabbit or squirrel.

Lucid dreams...I doubt they'd have them, except maybe some of the really smart animals like parrots, crows, and dolphins. If they have the mental talents of, say, a 4- or 5-year-old human child, these creatures may well be able to figure out how to lucid dream, if those talents include the level of self-awareness that 4- and 5-year-olds have. Many kids can lucid dream at that age, but they don't always retain it into adulthood.

This is quite an old video, but would suggest that dogs have dreams on some level (and very poor SP )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2BgjH_CtIA

Originally Posted by nzguy

This is quite an old video, but would suggest that dogs have dreams on some level (and very poor SP )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2BgjH_CtIA

Ha, I used that video a couple of weeks ago in my psychology class for my dream presentation. The whole room bursted out laughing.

But yeah I agree with innerspace. Animals can't tell us what they dream, but I believe we can analyze their physiological states (heart rates, breathing, ect) to assume what kind of dream they could be having.

SEE DOG BIG DOG BARK AT DOG RUN RUN DOG CLOSE RUN FAST EAT EAT EAT CAT CHASE CAT WATCH OUT BIG DOG BACK BARK

A pretty intriguing excerpt I took from my dog's dream journal.

Intriguing.

*spits out orange juice*

I believe they would dream about situations that may concern them, much like we do. but they might dream about being chased by predators, or maybe exploring

lucid dreaming? probably..

In order for an animal to lucid dream, they would have to know what dreaming is.
I'm going to say with 100% certainty that dogs and cats do not have lucid dreams.

As for highly, highly intelligent animals such as dolphins (which are slowly becoming popular as the 2nd most intelligent animal, more so than apes), I don't think we can even comprehend what their dreaming experience is like. They sleep with half of their brain on and half off, then switch half way through the night. If they don't, they will drown. They have to be conscious enough to keep themselves at the surface to breath. Perhaps they are too conscious to even have dreams.

For other intelligent animals such as certain apes and primates, I still don't think they can have a true lucid dream. They don't have a well-developed sense or understanding of what a dream really is in the first place.

Along with that, animals have different sleep cycles than us. Their stages are different lengths.

I know for a fact dogs dream...I've caught many of the dogs I have had over the years trying to run and whimpering for some reason....I'm pretty sure they're probably nightmares when that happens lol...I dunno.