Read more: "The night: The nocturnal journey of body and mind"
DOES a rustling in the deep dark of night send a shiver down your spine? The fear may be justified. Many of the creatures of the shadows, only glimpsed as flitting shapes, are ones to avoid. From the dangerous to the curious to the downright strange, the night-time is teeming with life.
In our 24/7, artificially lit world, humans are active around the clock. But don't be fooled: the night is an alien place to us. Our evolutionarily closest relatives, the chimps and bonobos, are diurnal – they operate strictly during daylight hours, bedding down at dusk. And a look at the habits of all extant primates indicates that our forebears have been adapted to daylight living for more than 50 million years.
Nevertheless, night-time was the right ...
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