Birds do it, Bees do it,
Orangutans, Seals, and Geese Do it.
Not fall in love, but sleep
The one thing that unites us all
How the Wild Things Sleep
Premieres on The Nature of Things
Friday, March 11th, 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on CBC and CBC Gem
Fun Sleep Facts:
Dogs are better at sleeping than humans.
When sleeping in water, fur seals keep one half of their brain awake at all times.
It’s believed that Canadian Geese—who fly up to 2400 KM a day—can sleep while they fly.
Edward Peill and Erin Oakes of Tell Tale Productions Inc. (The Power of Play (The Nature of Things), Body Language Decoded (The Nature of Things), The Killing of Phillip Boudreau (CBC POV), and Drag Kids (CBC POV)) are awake and thrilled to announce that How the Wild Things Sleep will premiere on The Nature of Things on Friday, March 11th, 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on CBC and CBC Gem.
Mother Nature has wired all living creatures on the planet to engage in sleep. But why? Scientists explore the big ideas about shut eye. Science tells us that all living creatures engage in some form of sleep. Myriad studies and experiments illustrate that each species adapts sleep for its own particular need. Primates, elephants, marine mammals, insects, birds – even our own pet dogs and cats – all sleep differently.
Researchers are now looking into sleep as practiced by very simple organisms, even organisms that lack a central nervous system or a brain. It seems that sleep is a necessary behaviour at the very core of life. But why? What is the biological purpose of sleep?
How The Wild Things Sleep takes a deep dive into the wonderful world of slumber with surprising results. A wide variety of species are examined, including orangutans, honeybees, elephants, fur seals, and cuttlefish. Ongoing research suggests sleep is a phenomenon common to all life forms–great, small and microscopic—and stretches back millions of years to the very beginnings of rudimentary life on earth.
Shot by world-class production teams in Canada, the USA, Germany, South Africa, and Japan, How The Wild Things Sleep is a revealing and engaging look into one of the great remaining mysteries in the scientific world.
“Sleep is sleep, right? Well actually, no. Sleep comes in many different forms, in different animal species. Every living thing seems to need their version of it. How do fur seals and birds sleep with one half of their brain while the other half stays awake? Why did they evolve the ability to do that? The phenomenon of sleep goes back hundreds of millions of years to the very beginnings of life on our planet,” says documentary writer Geoff D’Eon.
Directed by P.J. Naworynski (Curb Your Carbon and Inside the Great Vaccine Race on The Nature of Things) and co-directors Daniela Pulverer and Boris Raim (Banquet of the Beasts – The Cycle of Life, Swamplands USA), written by Geoff D’Eon, Daniela Pulverer, and Boris Raim, How the Wild Things Sleep is produced by Erin Oakes and executive produced by Edward Peill, Dennis Wells, Bernd Wilting and Claudia Zenkert. For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Factual, & Sports; Jennifer Dettman is Executive Director, Unscripted Content; Sandra Kleinfeld is Senior Director, Documentary; and Sue Dando is Executive in Charge of Production, The Nature of Things.
How the Wild Things Sleep is co-produced by Tell Tale Productions Inc., (Canada) and taglicht media (Germany), with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, Canadian Film or Video Tax Credits, and assistance of the Government of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Film & Television
