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How Much Do Animals Sleep?

Most animals have a daily pattern of rest and activity. Some animals are more active during the day (diurnal) and some are more active during the night (nocturnal). How much time do animals spend sleeping? Well, it depends on the animal:

Species	Average Total Sleep Time (% of 24 hr)	Average Total Sleep Time (Hours/day)
Brown Bat	82.9%	19.9 hr
North American Opossum	81%	19.4 hr
Giant Armadillo	75.4%	18.1 hr
Python	75%	18 hr
Owl Monkey	70.8%	17.0 hr
Bottle-nosed dolphin	16.7%	4.0 hr
Human (infant)	66.7%	16 hr
Tiger	65.8%	15.8 hr
Tree shrew	65.8%	15.8 hr
Squirrel	62%	14.9 hr
Western Toad	60.8%	14.6 hr
Ferret	60.4%	14.5 hr
Three-toed Sloth	60%	14.4 hr
Golden Hamster	59.6%	14.3 hr
Platypus	58.3%	14.0 hr
Lion	56.3%	13.5 hr
Gerbil	54.4%	13.1 hr
Rat	52.4%	12.6 hr
Cat	50.6%	12.1 hr
Cheetah	50.6%	12.1 hr
Mouse	50.3%	12.1 hr
Rhesus Monkey	49.2%	11.8 hr
Chicken	48.8%	11.7 hr
Jaguar	45%	10.8 hr
Duck	45%	10.8 hr
Dog	44.3%	10.6 hr
Star-nosed Mole	42.9%	10.3 hr
Baboon	42.9%	10.3 hr
European Hedgehog	42.2%	10.1 hr
Squirrel Monkey	41.3%	9.9 hr
Fox	40.6%	9.75 hr
Chimpanzee	40.4%	9.7 hr
Guinea Pig	39.2%	9.4 hr
Rabbit	36%	8.4 hr
Ostrich	33.3%	8 hr
Human (adult)	33.3%	8 hr
Pig	32.6%	7.8 hr
Guppy (fish)	29.1%	7 hr
Gray Seal	25.8%	6.2 hr
Sheep	24.6%	5.9 hr
Human (elderly)	22.9%	5.5 hr
Goat	22.1%	5.3 hr
African Elephant (captive)	16.6%-20.8%	4-5 hr
Giraffe	18.8%	4.5 hr
Cow	16.4%	3.9 hr
Asiatic Elephant	16.4%	3.9 hr
Donkey	13.0%	3.1 hr
Horse	12.0%	2.9 hr
African Elephant (wild)	8.8%	2.1 hr

References: This table was adapted from five sources:

Siegel, J.M., Sleep function: an evolutionary perspective. Lancet Neurol. 2022 Oct;21(10):937-946. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(22)00210-1. PMID: 36115365; PMCID: PMC9670796.
Aserinsky, E., Eyelid condition at birth: relationship to adult mammalian sleep-waking patterns, In Rapid Eye Movement Sleep, edited by B.N. Mallick and S. Inoue, Narosa Publishing, New Delhi, 1999, p. 7.
Campbell, S.S. and Tobler, I., Animal sleep: a review of sleep duration across phylogeny. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Rev., 8:269-300, 1984.
Gravett, N., Bhagwandin, A., Sutcliffe, R., Landen, K., Chase, M.J., Lyamin, O.I., et al. (2017) Inactivity/sleep in two wild free-roaming African elephant matriarchs - Does large body size make elephants the shortest mammalian sleepers? PLoS ONE 12(3): e0171903, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0171903.
Kryger, M.H., Roth, T. and Dement, W.C., Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine, W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, 1989, pp. 39-41.
Tobler, I., Napping and polyphasic sleep in mammals, In Sleep and Alertness: Chronobiological, Behavioral and Medical Aspects of Napping, edited by D.F. Dinges and R.J. Broughton, Raven Press, New York, 1989, pp. 9-31.

Did you know?

The brain of a dolphin appears to sleep one hemisphere at a time.

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