Sleep is very critical to our overall wellbeing, and we all know that. A full night’s sleep on a regular basis is known to improve many issues too. The internal clock that our body operates on called the circadian rhythm helps regulate the sleep wake cycle and, in most creatures, has a timer that demands sleep every 24 hours. This is exactly the reason why we feel cranky after the day after a bad sleep because we deviated from our circadian rhythm. Some animals have evolved themselves to a situation where they barely need sleep or do not sleep at all. This could be a necessity to survive in their environment too. Here is a look at the top 4 animals that barely sleep during their lifetime.

Giraffe

The tallest animal on earth is not something you would have expected to see on this list. They barely get 2 hours of sleep a day that too not at a stretch but in short bursts throughout the day. This might lead us to think if the tall neck of the mammal has anything to do with their odd behavior. In fact, it does play a role. The long neck does make it difficult for the animal to take rest peacefully as there are predators everywhere in the grasslands where they live. So instead, they sleep mostly standing up and only in short bursts so that they can be watchful of their predators too.

Alpine Swift

The alpine swift is an incredible species, and it is known to people not because of its weird sleeping habit but because of the miles it munches throughout the year. These birds may fly all the way from Europe to Himalayas or Southern Africa. They spend almost 200 days a year in flight and such an extraordinary feat demand altering their sleep pattern too. They have evolved to keep flying while at sleep too. How do they do that? Well, they can sleep half brain at a time. While one half of the brain sleeps the other half helps coordinate the bird’s flight while also being aware of the surroundings wary of predators.

Dolphin

This beautiful mammal deserves place in the list as it is very different from most of the fish species found in the deep blue sea. We all are aware of dolphin’s intelligence and its ability to interact with humans that we overlook several other super abilities of the mammal. We do know that dolphins breathe in air, and they need to come to the surface to do that. This means that even while resting they need to be either close to the surface or come to the surface at regular intervals. In a behavior like that of the alpine swift, one half or hemisphere of the brain of the dolphin goes to sleep while the other half ensures the animal stays close to surface to breathe and keeps away from predators. This phenomenon is called unihemispheric sleep and they ensure both halves get enough sleep over the day.

Bull Frog :

While the above animals in the list have figured out a way to sleep in a unique way, the bull frog might be the only species that evades sleep. While the animals’ mimics sleep during the day scientists did conduct tests and found out that the bull frog responds the same way when its awake or when its sleeping. If our definition to sleep is that the response is reduced, then the bull frog becomes the true champion of sleep. However, the bull frog does go into hibernation and that might be the time the bull frog truly sleeps.