5 More Sleepy Animals
We humans rest approximately eight hours a night—some more, some less. However, when we compare ourselves to the most sleepy animals in the world… That’s almost nothing! In today’s article, we tell you which are the 5 species that sleep the most, spending most of the day resting.
The 5 most sleeping animals
When it comes to taking a nap, the winners are these five species. Many of them spend more than a third of the day sleeping. Check out:
1. Koala
If you are on vacation in Australia and see a koala (picture that opens this text) with its eyes open, you will be a lucky person! These very fluffy looking gray marsupials spend between 20 and 22 hours sleeping a day.
The rest of the time, they eat nonstop: eucalyptus leaves form a large part of their diet. As they have a lot of water, they do not need to drink liquid. That is, more time to sleep! Koalas sleep on branches where they eat, without making a nest. Wherever they feel sleepy, that’s where they sleep.
2. laziness
In second place in the ranking of the most sleeping animals appears this placental mammal that inhabits the tropical forests of Latin America. And while many people think he’s related to primates, he’s actually a distant cousin of the anteater.
Your life is based on two things: eating and sleeping. For the first, they choose shoots and leaves from the Embaúba trees. And to sleep, they “hug” a branch taking advantage of the strong claws and long legs, remaining in this state for 18 hours!
3. brown bat
It’s a fact that bats sleep during the day and come out at night… But this small flying mammal also rests when the sun goes down! In total, he spends up to 19 hours a day sleeping.
Inhabits caves and wooded regions of North America and certain regions of Alaska. It is very common in the United States. It usually lives for about seven years and hibernates throughout the winter… In other words, it can go three consecutive months without waking up!
4. Armadillo
Also known as the “ball armadillo”, it is a cingulate mammal from the tropical forests of South America. The armadillo’s body is protected by a shell or armor. Because of this, it is known as a trap in some countries.
Although they sleep 18 hours a day inside the nests, in the remaining six – always at night – it is very active. You can walk for miles to find food, mainly termites, ants, earthworms, spiders and worms.
Being a sleeper is one of the main causes of being in danger of extinction. Because it is so peaceful and doesn’t keep alert, it becomes easy prey for hunters, who use the carapace as an adornment or to sell to animal collectors.
5. Opossum
Rounding out our top 5 of the most sleeping animals is this marsupial, native to the entire American continent. The possum spends 18 hours a day sleeping and the rest of the time it eats and moves very slowly.
It feeds on insects and plants. It is a very solitary animal – only the female is accompanied by her young during the months when they cannot fend for themselves – and can climb trees thanks to their strong claws.
