Ranking

Which animals sleep the most?

The little brown bat sleeps 19.9 hours a day, more than any other mammal on record.

Which animals sleep the most: top 20Total sleep (h/day)

Show the data as a table

The full table is below the chart.

Which animals sleep the most? – 83 rows. Click a column header to sort.
#
1	Little brown bat	19.9 h/day	2	0.01	Chiroptera	insecti
2	Big brown bat	19.7 h/day	3.9	0.02	Chiroptera	insecti
3	Thick-tailed opposum	19.4 h/day	6.6	0.37	Didelphimorphia	carni
4	Giant armadillo	18.1 h/day	6.1	60	Cingulata	insecti
5	North American Opossum	18.0 h/day	4.9	1.7	Didelphimorphia	omni
6	Long-nosed armadillo	17.4 h/day	3.1	3.5	Cingulata	carni
7	Owl monkey	17.0 h/day	1.8	0.48	Primates	omni
8	Arctic ground squirrel	16.6 h/day	–	0.92	Rodentia	herbi
9	Golden-mantled ground squirrel	15.9 h/day	3	0.21	Rodentia	herbi
10	Tiger	15.8 h/day	–	162.56	Carnivora	carni
11	Eastern american chipmunk	15.8 h/day	–	0.11	Rodentia	herbi
12	Tenrec	15.6 h/day	2.3	0.9	Afrosoricida	omni
13	Greater short-tailed shrew	14.9 h/day	2.3	0.02	Soricomorpha	omni
14	Western american chipmunk	14.9 h/day	–	0.07	Rodentia	herbi
15	Round-tailed muskrat	14.6 h/day	–	0.27	Rodentia	herbi
16	Northern grasshopper mouse	14.5 h/day	–	0.03	Rodentia	carni
17	Mountain beaver	14.4 h/day	2.4	1.35	Rodentia	herbi
18	Three-toed sloth	14.4 h/day	2.2	3.85	Pilosa	herbi
19	Golden hamster	14.3 h/day	3.1	0.12	Rodentia	herbi
20	Mongolian gerbil	14.2 h/day	1.9	0.05	Rodentia	herbi
21	Thirteen-lined ground squirrel	13.8 h/day	3.4	0.1	Rodentia	herbi
22	Phalanger	13.7 h/day	1.8	1.62	Diprotodontia	–
23	Lion	13.5 h/day	–	161.5	Carnivora	carni
24	Laboratory rat	13.0 h/day	2.4	0.32	Rodentia	herbi
25	Vole	12.8 h/day	–	0.04	Rodentia	herbi
26	Musk shrew	12.8 h/day	2	0.05	Soricomorpha	–
27	Chinchilla	12.5 h/day	1.5	0.42	Rodentia	herbi
28	Domestic cat	12.5 h/day	3.2	3.3	Carnivora	carni
29	House mouse	12.5 h/day	1.4	0.02	Rodentia	herbi
30	Arctic fox	12.5 h/day	–	3.38	Carnivora	carni
31	Cheetah	12.1 h/day	–	50	Carnivora	carni
32	Deer mouse	11.5 h/day	–	0.02	Rodentia	–
33	Cotton rat	11.3 h/day	1.1	0.15	Rodentia	herbi
34	Potoroo	11.1 h/day	1.5	1.1	Diprotodontia	herbi
35	Slow loris	11.0 h/day	–	1.4	Primates	carni
36	Potto	11.0 h/day	–	1.1	Primates	omni
37	Patas monkey	10.9 h/day	1.1	10	Primates	omni
38	Mole rat	10.6 h/day	2.4	0.12	Rodentia	–
39	Jaguar	10.4 h/day	–	100	Carnivora	carni
40	Star-nosed mole	10.3 h/day	2.2	0.06	Soricomorpha	omni
41	Desert hedgehog	10.3 h/day	2.7	0.55	Erinaceomorpha	–
42	Dog	10.1 h/day	2.9	14	Carnivora	carni
43	European hedgehog	10.1 h/day	3.5	0.77	Erinaceomorpha	omni
44	Macaque	10.1 h/day	1.2	6.8	Primates	omni
45	Grivet	10.0 h/day	0.7	4.75	Primates	omni
46	Galago	9.8 h/day	1.1	0.2	Primates	omni
47	Red fox	9.8 h/day	2.4	4.23	Carnivora	carni
48	Chimpanzee	9.7 h/day	1.4	52.2	Primates	omni
49	Squirrel monkey	9.6 h/day	1.4	0.74	Primates	omni
50	Mongoose lemur	9.5 h/day	0.9	1.67	Primates	herbi
51	Guinea pig	9.4 h/day	0.8	0.73	Rodentia	herbi
52	Baboon	9.4 h/day	1	25.24	Primates	omni
53	Lesser short-tailed shrew	9.1 h/day	1.4	0.01	Soricomorpha	omni
54	Pig	9.1 h/day	2.4	86.25	Artiodactyla	omni
55	Tree shrew	8.9 h/day	2.6	0.1	Scandentia	omni
56	Northern fur seal	8.7 h/day	1.4	20.49	Carnivora	carni
57	African striped mouse	8.7 h/day	–	0.04	Rodentia	omni
58	Short-nosed echidna	8.6 h/day	–	4.5	Monotremata	insecti
59	Rabbit	8.4 h/day	0.9	2.5	Lagomorpha	herbi
60	Eastern american mole	8.4 h/day	2.1	0.08	Soricomorpha	insecti
61	African giant pouched rat	8.3 h/day	2	1	Rodentia	omni
62	Human	8.0 h/day	1.9	62	Primates	omni
63	Degu	7.7 h/day	0.9	0.21	Rodentia	herbi
64	Vesper mouse	7.0 h/day	–	0.05	Rodentia	–
65	Gray hyrax	6.3 h/day	0.6	2.63	Hyracoidea	herbi
66	Genet	6.3 h/day	1.3	2	Carnivora	carni
67	Gray seal	6.2 h/day	1.5	85	Carnivora	carni
68	Common porpoise	5.6 h/day	–	53.18	Cetacea	carni
69	Rock hyrax	5.4 h/day	0.5	3.6	Hyracoidea	–
70	Goat	5.3 h/day	0.6	33.5	Artiodactyla	herbi
71	Tree hyrax	5.3 h/day	0.5	2.95	Hyracoidea	herbi
72	Bottle-nosed dolphin	5.2 h/day	–	173.33	Cetacea	carni
73	Brazilian tapir	4.4 h/day	1	207.5	Perissodactyla	herbi
74	Cow	4.0 h/day	0.7	600	Artiodactyla	herbi
75	Asian elephant	3.9 h/day	–	2,547	Proboscidea	herbi
76	Sheep	3.8 h/day	0.6	55.5	Artiodactyla	herbi
77	Caspian seal	3.5 h/day	0.4	86	Carnivora	carni
78	African elephant	3.3 h/day	–	6,654	Proboscidea	herbi
79	Donkey	3.1 h/day	0.4	187	Perissodactyla	herbi
80	Roe deer	3.0 h/day	–	14.8	Artiodactyla	herbi
81	Horse	2.9 h/day	0.6	521	Perissodactyla	herbi
82	Pilot whale	2.7 h/day	0.1	800	Cetacea	carni
83	Giraffe	1.9 h/day	0.4	900	Artiodactyla	herbi

What this shows

Bats, opossums and armadillos top the list: the little brown bat (19.9 h), big brown bat (19.7 h) and thick-tailed opossum (19.4 h) are awake for less than five hours a day. Small animals dominate the top of the table, which is the pattern behind the bigger the mammal, the less it sleeps.

Read the numbers as "sleep measured in the lab or a zoo". Almost all of them come from studies of captive animals compiled by Zepelin (1989), and wild animals can sleep far less: wild three-toed sloths slept 9.6 hours on EEG, against the 14.4 hours listed here.

This page as Markdown · JSON

What this shows

Related facts