How giraffes survive on less than two hours of sleep and still stay alert to predators in the wild

Giraffes are famous for their towering height, but this unique anatomy also shapes one of the strangest sleep patterns in the animal kingdom. Living on open grasslands with little shelter, giraffes face constant threats from predators, especially at night. Lying down makes them slow to rise and dangerously vulnerable, so they cannot afford long stretches of deep sleep. Instead, they rely on an unusual survival tactic: extremely short, scattered bursts of rest taken throughout the night. According to a study in Frontiers in Mammal Science , accelerometer data, wild Angolan giraffes showed an average of only 8.6 minutes of true sleep per night, confirming highly fragmented rest. These micro-naps allow them to refresh their brains while remaining alert, upright, and ready to escape at any