Most living things on Earth have an internal clock that ticks at the schedule of a circadian rhythm. Environmental factors can throw off this rhythm, and for animals that live in zoos, these factors are different compared to animals living in the wild.
One of these factors is moving an animal to a different time zone for conservation purposes. To understand if animals could get jet lag, a recent study tuned into the clocks of wild and captive pandas in zoos worldwide. Researchers found that pandas did indeed experience jet lag, which meant the panda's internal clocks ran in their native time zone in China even if they were on the other side of the world.
“Animals, including humans, have evolved rhythms to synchronize their internal environment with the external environment,” said Kristine Gandia, a psychology Ph.D. student at the University of Stirling and lead author of the study in a press release. “When internal clocks are not synchronized with external cues like light and temperature, animals experience adverse effects."
