How Much Do Animals Sleep?

Species Average Total Sleep Time

(% of 24 hr) Average Total Sleep Time

(Hours/day) Brown Bat 82.9% 19.9 hr Giant Armadillo 75.4% 18.1 hr North American Opossum 75% 18 hr Python 75% 18 hr Owl Monkey 70.8% 17.0 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 Rabbit 47.5% 11.4 hr Jaguar 45% 10.8 hr Duck 45% 10.8 hr Dog 44.3% 10.6 hr Bottle-nosed dolphin 43.3% 10.4 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 Chimpanzee 40.4% 9.7 hr Guinea Pig 39.2% 9.4 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 Human (elderly) 22.9% 5.5 hr Goat 22.1% 5.3 hr Cow 16.4% 3.9 hr Asiatic Elephant 16.4% 3.9 hr Sheep 16% 3.8 hr African Elephant 8.3% 2.0 hr Donkey 13.0% 3.1 hr Horse 12.0% 2.9 hr Giraffe 7.9% 1.9 hr

References: This table was adapted from four sources: 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.