Thread: Evolutionary advantage to snoring?

Is there any known or widely accepted evolutionary advantage to snoring for humans or any other creature that snore? For me personally, It’s one of the most irritating natural noises on the planet! I can fall blissfully asleep to the sounds of rain, wind and even thunder but never, ever, snoring!

So I’m thinking, If somebody is snoring and prevents me from sleeping, then perhaps that’s a survival advantage for the snorer? As it could increase the chances of someone, like me, to remain awake when and if a predator lurks by so I can warn the snorer, thus, increasing the snorers chances for survival! But I guess that would only be useful with social animals that sleep in packs.

However, I did read somewhere the idea that it could be a signal to other creatures signalling “I’m not actually dead, so don’t eat me”, but that could work the other way around to as a signal for a free lunch! So anyway, just curious...

Example of snoring by a dormouse.
Snoring Dormouse with sound - listen - YouTube

For me personally, It’s one of the most irritating natural noises on the planet! I can fall blissfully asleep to the sounds of rain, wind and even thunder but never, ever, snoring!

What kind of earplugs are you looking for?

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...45175338,d.eWU

Originally Posted by cosmictraveler

For me personally, It’s one of the most irritating natural noises on the planet! I can fall blissfully asleep to the sounds of rain, wind and even thunder but never, ever, snoring!

What kind of earplugs are you looking for?

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...45175338,d.eWU

Those Electronic Shooting Ear Muffs should suffice. Cheers!

It's often a bad idea to be thinking about evolution from a purely adaptationist perspective, since a great deal of evolution is thought to be non-adaptive. In other words: many things have evolved that have no evolutionary advantage at all.


Snoring probably did not evolve as an adaptation. It's more than likely a consequence of our anatomy and physiology.

In other words: many things have evolved that have no evolutionary advantage at all.

Like lawyers, politicians and tax collectors!

Originally Posted by Zwirko

Snoring probably did not evolve as an adaptation. It's more than likely a consequence of our anatomy and physiology.

Like the ability to choke when eating or drinking which, I read, is the price we pay for being able to talk.

Neither has enough selective disadvantage to be completely eliminated.

Originally Posted by Zwirko

Snoring probably did not evolve as an adaptation. It's more than likely a consequence of our anatomy and physiology.

I understand, I think anyway, that neutral traits can and do pass on to the next generation, but what’s surprising to me is how successful the snore trait has survived and passed on through so many different mammals like dogs and horses etc.

Many of today’s mammals are known to snore (Like the Human, Horse and mouse), that would suggest the snore trait existed very early on in the evolutionary tree of early mammals, way before primates walked the earth. So because it’s an old trait that’s survived for so long, I figured it must of had at least an advantage or function at some early evolutionary stage for mammals.

Originally Posted by Strange

Originally Posted by Zwirko

Snoring probably did not evolve as an adaptation. It's more than likely a consequence of our anatomy and physiology.

Like the ability to choke when eating or drinking which, I read, is the price we pay for being able to talk.

Neither has enough selective disadvantage to be completely eliminated.

I thought the compulsive choking reaction you suffer until you try to eject the food that got stuck in your throat or force more air into your lungs was a good thing! If you didn’t choke, then you won’t eject the stuck food, so then you suffocate!

Originally Posted by pineapples

I thought the compulsive choking reaction you suffer until you try to eject the food that got stuck in your throat or force more air into your lungs was a good thing! If you didn’t choke, then you won’t eject the stuck food, so then you suffocate!

Most mammals can't breath and swallow at the same time. Humans can (I believe) because of the changes to the oesophagus and trachea required for speech.

Strange, So what I think you’re saying (and I think Zwirko had similarly pointed out) is that Snoring could just be a by product trait of another trait that is advantageous?

Pretty much. In this case, I think the advantageous trait is "breathing".

Im surprised snoring survived evolution. Common sense would dictate that if your partner snores, you kill her/him. Therefore, snoring should not have survived as a trait.

Edit: Nm, I understand now. "common sense" got eliminated - lost against snoring! Thats what happens when you dont kill people that snore.

If a mouse snores loudly enough, other predators will assume it's a sleeping bear and leave it alone.

Cats snore. Dogs snore. Horses snore. I presume lots of creatures I know nothing about snore.

There are lots of little snuffling, huffing, snoring noises in sleeping people and in all the pet animals I've known. Loud snoring is annoying, along with some of the other sleeping 'activities' when they get too vigorous - shifting and shuffling, knees, feet and elbows jabbing and kicking. My husband observed that sharing the bed with one of our children was like 'sleeping with a wooden letter Z' - it didn't matter how you tried to get comfortable there was always something sticking into you.

it didn't matter how you tried to get comfortable there was always something sticking into you.

OH MY!!