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【No. 1405】Real 'Tanuki Neiri'

Oct 23, 2018 15:33
Real 'Tanuki Neiri'

Previously, I introduced you to the term tanuki neiri (狸寝入り - literally "raccoon dog sleep"), which means "to pretend to fall asleep."

This word comes from the fact that raccoon dogs faint for a while when they are surprised, then they run away -- this behavior looks as if they pretended to fall asleep.

You might think that raccoon dogs don't do actual tanuki neiri because they really faint.

However, according to the recent study, it has been revealed that raccoon dogs' brains are awake while they are fainting.

That is to say, raccoon dogs do the real tanuki neiri instinctively.
本当の狸寝入り

以前私は、「寝たふりをすること」を意味する「狸寝入り」という言葉を紹介しました。

この言葉は、狸が驚いて一時的に気を失い、暫くすると起き上がって逃げていく様子が「寝たふり」に見える事実に由来します。

狸は実際に気を失っているのだから本当の「狸寝入り(寝たふり)」をしているわけではない、と思うかもしれません。

しかし最近の研究で、気を失っている間の狸の脳は目覚めているということが明らかにされました。

すなわち狸は、本能的に本当の「狸寝入り」をしているのです。

Corrections (1)

No. 1 Mar

In America we have an animal called an "opossum" which lies motionless pretending to be dead when threatened. This behavior is called "playing possum". BTW opossums are the only marsupial native to the New World.

Toru
Thank you very much for letting me know the interesting information!
I learned something new! (^^)

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