Quote:
>How can it be to their advantage to sleep so deeply that you can toss
>them in the air like pizza dough, and they just land in your two hands
>as a dead weight, head upsidedown and lolling bonelessly, tongue,
>hanging out between open fangs?  Partially opened eyes glazed over?  I
>threw Switch this way six or seven times tonight without waking her
>while we stood in a circle around her and laughed until our collective
>asses loosened and were in imminent danger of falling off.
 
From what I have read, I believe that it is a safety measure built in
from when they were wild animals.  When the parents left to hunt, the
kits would all stay behind in a "death sleep".  If a predator came along,
it would see a whole nest of babies, apparently dead.  Animals are smart
enough (or dumb enough) to be fooled into thinking that there must be
something wrong, i.e., disease if there are no marks but all the kits
are dead.  So they would leave the nest alone.
 
Going from memory here, so if I screwed that up at all, feel free to jump
in with more accurate data, folks.  So just remember, when you come across
your babies sleeping like the dead, they are just making sure you don't
eat them while they sleep. :-)
 
Matt and the 8 fuzzbutts
[Posted in FML issue 3783]