Why do giraffes only sleep 7 minutes?
Perhaps you have already asked yourself whether and how long giraffes sleep. Like all mammals, giraffes need deep sleep phases for regeneration. But unlike humans, for example, they get by with only 7 minutes of sleep at a time, sometimes even with less. There are various reasons for this.
Giraffes are attacked by predators while they sleep
- The first reason is an important point from an evolutionary point of view. A prey - and that includes the giraffe - can easily fall prey to predators while it sleeps.
- Predators that hunt animals as large as giraffes are primarily lions, hyenas, and leopards. When the giraffe is awake and standing, it can hit the attacker vigorously with its legs or achieve high speed within a short time when fleeing. This means she has a good chance of escaping the pursuers. So the best protection for the giraffe is to sleep as little as possible.
- Therefore, the giraffe often rests standing or lying down. Her head is raised and she is immediately wide awake if there are unusual noises. In these phases, however, she is not in deep sleep, she is only dozing.
The regulation of blood pressure in the giraffe
- Even if a sleeping giraffe wakes up in time, it usually cannot escape the threat quickly enough. This is because it takes a few seconds to get up due to her long legs and neck. Lying down is also fraught with difficulties for them.
- This in turn is due to the fact that the giraffe's heart has to pump the blood several meters upwards in order for it to reach the brain. Although giraffes have a sophisticated cardiovascular system that is specially tailored to their needs, they cannot lower or raise their heads too quickly. There would be fluctuations in blood pressure. Lying down and getting up are also comparatively slow.
- In contrast to giraffes who are dozing or half asleep, you can really recognize sleeping giraffes by their posture. The 7 minutes in which you sleep, you lie with your neck and head tilted to one side. The head lies in the area of the hindquarters.
- Young giraffes have fewer problems lying down. They also need more sleep and are therefore more often found in the typical sleeping position.
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The forestomach system only allows 7 minutes of sleep
- Another important reason why giraffes only sleep 7 minutes at a time is due to their forestomach system. Like cows and sheep, for example, giraffes are also ruminants.
- This means that the pre-digested, plant-based food is regurgitated several times in order to chew it further and thus to chop it up. This process is very important for the digestion of plant fibers. The activity of the forestomach decreases naturally during sleep.
- In addition, gas is created permanently in the forestomach system, since the pre-digestion takes place by bacteria with the formation of gas. The gas is removed by a burping called a "duct". This ructus hardly takes place during real sleep and the forestomach system would bloat if you sleep too long.
As you can see, there are good reasons why the giraffe does not sleep more than 7 minutes at a time. However, if necessary, she can repeat these short sleep phases several times a night at certain time intervals.
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