Animals and sleep
After a particularly long nap, I wondered if all animals sleep and if so , how long do they sleep for.

By animals I mean all mammals, birds, insects and fish, basically all creatures.

I discovered everyone needs sleep but the amazing thing is that how some have developed a wide range of sleeping habits to survive.

Some animals take sleep to an Olympic standard and some animals never actually sleep in the way we understand sleep. Where we lie down shut our eyes and rest.

Starting with the shortest to the longest sleeping times. I have only used a few as examples, but all creatures will fit into the following sleeping patterns in one way or another.

Some animals actually do not have a long sleep and instead have micro sleeps that last a few seconds at a time.
Many species of birds micro sleep. The Chinstrap penguins have over 10,000 micro sleeps a day which last around four seconds at a time.

After micro sleeping there are animals that have developed the ability to be able to allow one side of their brain to go into a deep sleep.

Whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions sleep with one side of their brain asleep while the other is awake. 

Next are the animals that sleep in the way we understand.
The majority of animals have normal sleep. Their sleep patterns can vary from under two hours a day to over nineteen hours a day.

Although within this group there are some unusual differences such as sleeping standing up or even upside down.
Some sea mammals even sleep vertically in the water. Or sleeping during the day instead of during the night.

Next are the animals that actually go that deep into sleep that they slow down their metabolism and breathing which is called hibernation.

Animals that hibernate usually live in extreme weather conditions where hibernation is a way to survive.

Animals that hibernate include bears, the Madagascan fat-tailed dwarf lemur,   European hedgehogs  ground squirrels, and pygmy possums.

So what type of sleeping style do you mostly match?