Tadgear's Articles #3: Koala or Komala

In article 3 of this series, I look into the lore and inspiration surrounding the Pokemon Komala, specifically why it always sleeps and the stage of sleep in which it battles.

The past two weeks have centered around physical entertainment, but now it is time to delve into some electronic media. Video games represent one of the most popular forms of entertainment today, and this short essay is going to talk about an aspect of a very well-recognized game franchise, Pokemon! In the newest Pokemon games, there were several new Pokemon introduced, one of them being called Komala, a Pokemon based off of the real-world Koala. This specific Pokemon caught my eye because of one simple fact: it always sleeps. As the Pokedex states, "It is born asleep, it dies asleep," (2016). This means the Pokemon spends entire life eating, drinking, and even battling in its sleep. Out of curiosity, I researched both the Pokemon's habits and inspiration as well as the different stages of sleep so that I may understand the creature better. Now, it is time to show off more about this fictional being.

First, the Pokemon's habits must be explained so that its inspiration can be identified. The Pokedex states, in terms of its sleep, that, "All its movements are apparently no more than the results of it tossing and turning in its dreams," and that, "When it falls into a deep sleep, it stops moving altogether,"(2016). As for why it sleeps, the Pokedex says,"It remains asleep from birth to death as a result of the sedative properties of the leaves that form its diet," (2017). The Pokemon's inspiration, the Koala, has a diet of mainly leaves from the eucalyptus tree (2005). While the eucalyptus tree isn't the main reason why Koala's always seem so tired, a special ingredient can commonly be extracted from the leaves to be used for medicine that causes drowsiness (1998). This implies two major factor revolving the Pokemon's sleep. First, the Pokemon's sleep isn't natural due to the sedatives it eats. Since the Pokemon's sleep isn't natural, it does not follow the common rules revolving the sleep that animals experience when fatigued. Second, there are two different stages of Komala's sleep, when it moves and when it doesn't move.

Next, the stages of sleep have to be described so that they can be accurately compared to Komala's situation. There are two stages of sleep: REM and NREM sleep. REM stands for "Rapid Eye Movement" and NREM stands for "Non-Rapid Eye Movement" (2007). Organisms with eyes cycle through two stages of sleep throughout the night (2007). REM sleep is when our body is most alert, and NREM sleep is when our body is most dorment (2007). The organism's stages of sleep can be affected by specific factors if great enough, such as an imbalanced diet or purposely preventing sleep (2007).

   This helps in identifying the stages of sleep from which Komala sleeps in. Since NREM sleep causes the body to be too dorment to perform actions, Komala can only eat, drink, play, and battle during the REM stages of sleep. In terms of Komala's irregular sleep, the Pokemon's diet could be prolonging REM sleep and preventing the brain from releasing signals to wake up. This is actually very similar to when a person drinks alcohol, in which NREM sleep is prolonged, meaning very little signals are sent between the mind and body (2007).

Overall, this Pokemon takes heavy inspiration from real-world organisms and stays very close to the source material. Maybe that's why Komala is a normal-type Pokemon. Either way, much can be learned from looking deeper into other organisms, and one might just be surprised by the similarities we all possess. In the name of further research, may we all continue to fuel curiosity and find new information to benefit the future.

Sources:

Gamefreak. (November 17, 2017). Pokemon Ultra Moon. (Version 2) [3DS]. United States of America; Nintendo of America.

Gamefreak. (November 17, 2017). Pokemon Ultra Sun. (Version 2) [3DS]. United States of America; Nintendo of America.

Gamefreak. (18 November, 2016). Pokemon Sun. (Version 1) [3DS]. United States of America; Nintendo of America.

Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (10 March, 2005). Koala. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from britannica.com/animal/koala.

Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (20 July, 1998). Eucalyptus. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from britannica.com/plant/Eucalyptus.

Sleep Medicine Division of Harvard Medical School, WBGH Educational Foundation. (2007). Natural Patterns of Sleep. Healthy Sleep. Retrieved from healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/science/what/sleep-patterns-rem-nrem.

Author's Note

Sources in APA.