A 2003 study calculated humans need 8.16 hrs of sleep every night to avoid decrements in their daytime performance (van Dongen et al., 2003).

We’re often so focused on humans. Why?

Is that because they’re top of the food chain - the apex predator? The one that all animals should fear?

Well perhaps that is true in the case of Australia’s current Prime Minister, who repeatedly ignored the requests of the New South Wales Fire Chief in late 2019. Requests for help to deal with a predicted catastrophic fire season were practically ignored.

And what ended up happening that summer ... ?

If you really didn’t like that sidestep, there is an Unsubscribe link down the button … but if you do care about the welfare of koalas - like I do - read on …

How Many Hours Does A Koala Sleep?

A couple of months ago my family spotted an exhausted koala in a tree. It was the end of another hot day in Adelaide. So we offered some H2O.

My family asked me “Don’t koalas sleep for like 20 hrs a day?”

My response - “Don’t know. I’ll have to check Google Scholar.”

They collectively groaned.

Sure enough, if you Google search the answer you’ll get ~28 million search results.

Google Scholar search the answer, and you’ll get ~1,400 search results.

And the number of hours a koala sleeps is not easy to find.

I had to dig down a few layers before I found the answer - from a study published in the year Marty McFly was try to get back to. How long do koalas sleep for? You’ll find out …

But what about other animals?

Well, below is a list ranking the amount of hours slept for different animals - including the Great Tit (which is a winged bird, fellas) - rounded to the nearest half hour:

20 hrs - Box Turtle - Little Brown Bat

19.5 hrs - North American Opossum - Little Water Opossum - Big Brown Bat

18 hrs - African Python - Giant Armadillo

17.5 hrs - Nine-Banded Armadillo

17 hrs - Desert Iguana - Owl Monkey

16.5 hrs - Two-Toed Sloth - Arctic Ground Squirrel - Eastern Chipmunk

16 hrs - Strix Aluco - Three-Toed Sloth - Prairie Vole

15.5. hrs - Tenrec - Mongolian Gerbil

15 hrs - Greater Short-Tailed Shrew - Cliff Chipmunk

14.5 hrs - Koalas - Western Toad - Mountain Beaver - Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel - Tench Fish - Burrowing Owl - Northern Grasshopper Mouse - Round-Tailed Muskrat - Golden Hamster

14 hrs - Cockroach - Galapagos Penguin - Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel - Gray Seal

13.5 hrs - Water Shrew - Smew - Phalanger - Meadow Vole

13 hrs - Beagle - Domestic Cat - Laboratory Rat - Arctic Wolf - Musk Shrew - European Pochard - Tufted Duck - Deer Mouse - Old Field Mouse - Laboratory Mouse

12.5 hrs - Guinea Pig - Chinchilla - Arctic Fox

12 hrs - Red-Footed Tortoise - Rhesus Monkey - Horned Lizard - White Leghorn Chicken - Whooper Swan

11.5 hrs - Kangaroo Rat - Margined Tortoise - Chestnut-Backed Chickadee - Bewick Wren - Mountain Vole - Cotton Rat

11 hrs - Lemur - Patas Monkey - Slow Loris - Gray-Tailed Vole - Cactus Mouse - Smooth Newt - Duck - Hummingbird

10.5 hrs - Desert Hedgehog - Star-Nosed Mole - Vervet - European Mole - Emperor Penguin - Pigeon - Common Swift - Bottlenosed Dolphin

10 hrs - European Hedgehog - Squirrel Monkey - Dove - Red Fox - Jaguar

9.5 hrs - Chimpanzee - Parakeet

9 hrs - Baboon - Tree Shrew - Rabbit - Bonet Monkey - Lesser Short-Tailed Trew

8.5 hrs - Echnida - Pointer - Pygmy Shrew - Eastern Mole - Little Penguin - African-Striped Mouse

8 hrs - Pig - Cotton Mouse - Pigtail Macaque Monkey - Bush Baby - White-Footed Mouse - Supple Styling - Common Shrew - Polar White Owl - Pintail - Green-Winged Teal - Great Tit

7.5 hrs - Perch - Black Iguana

7.0 - Guppy Fish - European Pond Turtle - Launcha De Campo - Chaffinch - Black Duck - Degu - Indus Dolphin - Prof MG

6.5 hrs - European Golden Eye - Kittiwake - Pocket Mouse

6 hrs - Green Iguana - Landaise Goose

5.5 hrs - Trumpeter Swan - Goat

5 hrs - Beluga Whale - Starling - Herring Gull - Wheatear - North Pacific Pilot Whale - Hyrax

4.5 hrs - Hawk - Falcon - Snow Bunting - Common Eider - Tapir

4 hrs - Wild Turkey - Barred Owl - Asian Elephant - Sheep - Cow

3.5 hrs - Red Kangaroo - Caspian Seal - Hoary Redpoll - Purple Sandpiper - Grey-Cheeked Thrush - House Martin - Arctic Tern - Legit - African Elephant - American Robin

Want to know what animals have been found to get zero hours sleep?

Yep - you heard right.

Well, we can only suggest you simply sign up below as a subscriber so you never miss out on the juicy little details we explore, research and share - to our subscribers.

Our members get even more info.

A ton more info and input - just like …

Member’s Spotlight

This week I chatted to one of our WINK Members - Teresa DeNike from Sleep Better NYC- on Instagram Live. Teresa has one of the best Zoom backgrounds, but in terms of sleep, she’s actively educating her followers on the importance of sleep. You can check out our IG chat here - but first, hear what she offers and what she thinks of WINK:

What are the services you offer - and how can people get in touch?

Sleep Better NYC provides education, coaching, and care coordination to clients and patients.

This means anyone can buy our online programs to educate themselves and get actionable guidance to improve their sleep. They’ll have access to videos and downloadable PDFs, links for clinical resources, as well as access to chat live with a qualified sleep coach.

For clinicians, that means we help support their patients. We give patients access to online programs and chat, and schedule live coaching sessions. This helps patients get through the (often-fragmented) process and into appropriate therapy for their sleep disorder. It also helps to instill healthy, sustainable habits. We then use objective measurements to monitor therapy and share that data with their doctor.

We are very active on social media, but details of our programs can be found on our website. www.sleepbetter.nyc (specifically www.sleepbetter.nyc/sleep-services )

What’s the biggest thing you get from the WINK Membership?

Access to clinical reference materials and questionnaires has been helpful. I also appreciate the monthly webinar (recordings). I always want to attend/watch live, but life gets busy! It's great to be able to go back to the recordings when they're up on the website.