For humans, sleep is essential for overall health. It allows us to recharge, consolidate memories, and repair the body. Scientists think that animals need sleep for similar purposes.
After all, they are particularly vulnerable while enjoying it, so there must be considerable advantages that outweigh the risks, right?
While there are many mysteries surrounding sleep that we still can't solve, there's one certainty that nobody dares to doubt. Animals look absolutely adorable when they close their eyes to get some well-deserved rest.
To drive this point home, we decided to expand on one of our earlier publications and put together a new collection of pictures showing the quirky and sweet side of sleep. From dogs and cats to geckos and owls, continue scrolling to meet the gang.
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Hugging In Their Sleep
How animals sleep — and just how much rest they get — is as varied as the creatures themselves, but here are the top 10 drowsy critters (ranked by hours spent sleeping per 24 hours):
1. Koala: 20-22;
2. Sloth: 20;
3. Brown bat: 19.9;
4. Giant armadillo: 18.1;
5. Python: 18;
5. North American opossum: 18;
7. Owl monkey: 17;
8. Human infant: 16;
9-10. Tiger: 15.8;
9-10. Tree shrew: 15.8.
The Street Is Very Hot, So The Salesperson Allows Kittens To Go Into The Store And Sleep On The Freezer
Where My Cat Sleeps When I'm Working From Home
Fox Sleeping On A Skylight
Since the amount of sleep required varies greatly from species to species, let's look at the other end of the spectrum.
The average giraffe, for example, sleeps for just 4.6 hours per day. For the most part, giraffes tend to sleep during the night, although they do get in some quick naps throughout the day.
They can doze off standing up as well as lying down, and their sleep cycles are quite short, lasting around 35 minutes and sometimes even shorter.
A Boy And His Cow Napping At The Goshen Fair
Snow Owls Sleep Like They Have Necked 10 Double Whiskeys And Just Reached Their Bed
Time For A Nap
Can We All Just Take A Moment To Appreciate The Sweetest Little Fox Sleeping On A Tree Stump In My Parents' Backyard
Elephants are another animal that sleeps very little. Some researchers have documented their total sleep time as just 2 hours per day.
(Interestingly, scientists can tell elephants are sleeping when their trunks stop moving.)
Elephants, like giraffes, likely only sleep for a few hours each day due to their massive body size and need to graze often. Predation risk may also play a role in how little they sleep, given how far they’ll travel while awake.
Some elephants have been observed traveling for nearly two days without sleeping at all.
Just Like A Human Relationship
Cats Sleeping On A Bench In Whidbey Island, WA. I Had To Stop And Take A Picture On My Walk
The Shelter Made A Rule That These Siblings Had To Be Adopted Together Because They Were Inseparable. They Sleep Like This Every Night
I Caught Him Sleeping Like This In His Cat Tree
Tomorrow - I will finish the ascent to the summit......
During sleep, the human body cycles through four stages. Physical changes take place during each stage, such as decreased temperature and heart rate.
Different types of brain activity also occur during each stage, with more activity taking place during the fourth stage, called rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep.
In addition to the fluttering eyes behind eyelids, this sleep phase is also characterized by muscle twitching and waking-like electrical brain patterns. Although humans can dream during any phase of sleep, they are most likely to during REM sleep.
This Is Chata, The Munchkin. This Is How He Sleeps
Moose Taking An Afternoon Nap In My Dad's Garden
Sleeping Squirrels In Their Nest On A Window Ledge
My 19-Year-Old Cat Sleeping With Her Childhood Toy
Many terrestrial mammals, including primates, and some reptiles, birds, and aquatic invertebrates also experience REM sleep. But again, the exact amount varies widely depending on the species.
Because elephants sleep so little, they don't experience REM sleep every day. In contrast, house cats can spend up to 8 hours a day in REM sleep.
Some animals, such as dolphins and whales, show little-to-non behaviors associated with REM sleep, although whales sometimes do exhibit some muscle jerking that might be representative of REM sleep.
One Of Our Ducks Rejected This Duckling And It Imprinted On Me Instead. It Hasn't Let Me Out Of It's Sight For The Two And A Half Days It's Been Alive
It tired itself out playing in the grass earlier and stretched out in my hand for a little nap
This Is My Yoda
In Case You Need Something To Brighten Your Day, Here’s A Picture Of My Dog Sleeping
At least they had all the pieces but put them together wrong 😂
Two Months After I Got Him And Darwin Still Holds His Own Paws When He Sleeps
Even though mammals and birds both spend considerable periods in REM sleep, REM seems to have become further enhanced in mammals. In birds, periods of REM last only a few seconds at a time, implying that the animal would be rapidly going into and out of dreams again and again.
Everybody's Got These Great Pictures Of Their People Sleeping With Their Pets And I'm Over Here Stuck With This Mess
This Is How They Sleep! Nugget (The Sausage Dog) Makes Sure Of It
Funny Hedgehog Sleeping
All Tucked In
Whatever the perceptual content of an animal's dreams, we can expect that they are just as chaotic (and, at times, repetitive) as our own.
If this is the case, we can only wonder how they interpret these strange experiences upon waking. Maybe they are just as confused and fascinated as we are.
The Way My Cat Sleeps
My Little Guy Likes Sleeping In His Succulent
My Boy Eddie Sleeping
This Hood Is Good
Smol Criminal Taking A Nap
These Cats Napping Aligned On Stairs
Gotta leave room for people to walk, but not so much room that they don’t look at you as they pass
How My New Kitten Likes To Sleep When I Am Using My Laptop
He Has The Weirdest Sleeping Positions
Blep In Her Sleep
In Under A Month She Went From Being Scared Of Everyone, To Sleeping With A Smile On Her Face Cuddling. Please Rescue
Rescues changed my relationship with animals for the better. Adopt, don't shop.
Excuse Me, Miss, May I Nap In Your Nest For A Bit? A Little Bird Followed Me From My Car
You'll never be able to wear a hat again. I consider that a good trade 😁
This Is My Black Cat Kaia. She Started To Sleep Like This After Her Belly Got Badly Injured In A Car Accident. So Proud That She Recovered
Little Puppers Doing A Synchronized Sleep
Circle Of Meow
So I Caught My Cat Sleeping In This Position
This Is My Dog’s Favorite Toy. He Refuses To Chew On It And He Sleeps With It Every Night
This Baby Duck Is Sleeping, So People Who Are Also Going To Sleep Good Night And Dream About Ducks
The Way She Sleeps
He Sleeps
My Mother Just Sent Me This Picture. She Just Woke Up And Had This Fella Sleeping Over Her Bed
Foster Kitten Likes To Sleep In My Hand. I Have No Objections
My Girlfriend Is Dog-Sitting With A Friend’s Dog. This Is How He Naps Apparently
Found This Little Guy At The Bottom Of Our Garden. He Was In Bad Shape But He's Improving. The Hard Work Of Forming A Bond With Him Is Paying Off
This is him coming up to me today and sleeping next to me
My Girlfriend's Cat Sleeping On Top Of The Brooms In Her Family's Shop
Didn't See Him At Lunchtime, So Looked Around And Found Him Sleeping In The Front Yard
I initially would have a scary fleeting thought before realizing he is just sleeping.
My Friend’s Sleeping Cat
yes, that would be awesome!! i'd like to contribute to this new internet with a photo of my late cat sleeping in her favorite pose! 20220119_121230.jpg
Load More Replies...More please. I'm 100 percent certain these make everyone's day brighter. 🐾💖🤗
Yes. So much better than the negative AITA posts.
Load More Replies...I forget what it's like to sleep well. I am so jealous of these little whisperer that they can sleep so good. On the plus side I am up at 2:34am scrolling through because I have insomnia. So I am entertained but jealous but now it is slowly turning to anger!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
I've always said that in my next life, I'd better come back as a house cat. Sleeping 18 hours a day and being pampered and spoiled will make up for the lack of sleep and stress life as a human has caused me.
Load More Replies...I wish they would make a way to see all of the images in the original post after they cut the size down. I know it can be done from the internet but there isn't a link when you are using the app on your phone.
Under the comments after the last picture: Note: this post originally had 148 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes. If you click in the "148 images" it'll show you all of the pics in the original list :)
Load More Replies...I don't care if these pictures have been on these threads a million times! I will still love to look at each and every one.
These pictures make me happy. I'm doing a similar phot project except of animal butts. If you are ever sad or depressed, just find a group of pictures of animal butts or, as this showcases, animals sleeping and your troubles will feel a little less important.
Anybody else just want to hug all the cuties? Just me? Ok then. ;)
🐈I want to put a picture here of my bro & sis floofs, but don't know how😑
I have a neat picture of my cat when she was alive, one of her favourite places to sleep was on top of my dog's big metal crate. I thought she was uncomfortable because her feet and stuff would always hang through the bars or poke through. So I tried a blanket to make her comfortable. She hated it covered. Any blanket I tried, she got rid of to sleep on the metal bars. She was a strange cat. I deeply miss her. Just not her 5am "I want us to go outside" wakeup calls. Yes, I said us.
I used to have this black cat who was pretty fat. He was fat enough to sleep on top of LEGO BRICKS on the floor with no problem.
I love seeing pictures of animals sleeping but BP has shown this post so many times recently. The same content keeps being repeated on BP too, I'm getting so close to not bothering to look at this site anymore. I know what will cheer me up, pictures of animals sleeping! I'm going to google them so I'll at least see different ones.
yes, that would be awesome!! i'd like to contribute to this new internet with a photo of my late cat sleeping in her favorite pose! 20220119_121230.jpg
Load More Replies...More please. I'm 100 percent certain these make everyone's day brighter. 🐾💖🤗
Yes. So much better than the negative AITA posts.
Load More Replies...I forget what it's like to sleep well. I am so jealous of these little whisperer that they can sleep so good. On the plus side I am up at 2:34am scrolling through because I have insomnia. So I am entertained but jealous but now it is slowly turning to anger!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
I've always said that in my next life, I'd better come back as a house cat. Sleeping 18 hours a day and being pampered and spoiled will make up for the lack of sleep and stress life as a human has caused me.
Load More Replies...I wish they would make a way to see all of the images in the original post after they cut the size down. I know it can be done from the internet but there isn't a link when you are using the app on your phone.
Under the comments after the last picture: Note: this post originally had 148 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes. If you click in the "148 images" it'll show you all of the pics in the original list :)
Load More Replies...I don't care if these pictures have been on these threads a million times! I will still love to look at each and every one.
These pictures make me happy. I'm doing a similar phot project except of animal butts. If you are ever sad or depressed, just find a group of pictures of animal butts or, as this showcases, animals sleeping and your troubles will feel a little less important.
Anybody else just want to hug all the cuties? Just me? Ok then. ;)
🐈I want to put a picture here of my bro & sis floofs, but don't know how😑
I have a neat picture of my cat when she was alive, one of her favourite places to sleep was on top of my dog's big metal crate. I thought she was uncomfortable because her feet and stuff would always hang through the bars or poke through. So I tried a blanket to make her comfortable. She hated it covered. Any blanket I tried, she got rid of to sleep on the metal bars. She was a strange cat. I deeply miss her. Just not her 5am "I want us to go outside" wakeup calls. Yes, I said us.
I used to have this black cat who was pretty fat. He was fat enough to sleep on top of LEGO BRICKS on the floor with no problem.
I love seeing pictures of animals sleeping but BP has shown this post so many times recently. The same content keeps being repeated on BP too, I'm getting so close to not bothering to look at this site anymore. I know what will cheer me up, pictures of animals sleeping! I'm going to google them so I'll at least see different ones.