How Long Do Lions Sleep (And Why)?

Exact Answer: Up to 20 hours

The lions can sleep for around 20 hours every day. These wild animals love to relax their mind and they have a long sleeping period. Sometimes, they may look like sleeping, but they are actually resting. The number of sweat glands in lions is very less. Therefore, for them conserving energy is pivotal. The lions are very active mostly at night.

As in nights, the temperature would be quite cool as compared to the daytime.  The vision of lions during the nighttime is very sharp. Just like, sleep is very important for humans, lions too need a good sleeping window to stay healthy. There will be some lions that sleep for no more than 16 hours.

It depends on the health, size, and age of the lions. The lions are great predators. Therefore, the lions would sleep for a long time, and their sleep would be very deeper as compared to other wild animals.

How Long Do Lions Sleep?

The sleep of the lions would get affected by many factors. Such as:

Health- The health of the lions plays a vital role in determining how long they can sleep. The lions who are not healthy or have underlying health problems would sleep for around 20 hours. The lions whose energy level would be lower than others would sleep around 16 to 20 hours. The healthy lions may sleep around 16 hours or less than it.
Age- One of the most important factors to know while predicting the sleep time of lions is the age of the lions. The adult lions may not sleep for a long time as they are quite active with a high level of energy. The lions who are getting older would sleep for more than 16 hours as their energy level would be very less.

The baby lions or cubs can sleep for 12 to 16 hours depending on their growth and development.
Habits- The habits of the lions play a vital role in predicting their sleeping window. Some lions love to sleep for more than 16 hours. There will be lions who love to stay active and would sleep less than 16 hours. When the lions have nothing to do, then they may sleep for more than 20 hours.

The habits of all the lions would be different and this would make the lions sleep according to their preference. The lions are carnivores which can be a reason that they want to sleep for more time. The animals that eat meat would sleep more than the animals that eat vegetables.

The predators need not stay very active, but the herbivores are supposed to stay active. As the herbivores never know when the predators can attack them.

Why Do Lions Sleep For This Long?

The lions can sleep for a very long time due to a lack of sweat glands and energy. The lions conserve their energy so that they can hunt animals. For lions, resting is very important as they want to save it for the nighttime. According to many experts, the lions get more success when they are hunting in the nighttime.

The vision of the lion is very sharp and powerful than the humans. This is the reason lions can see everything in the night. The lions are not known for their activities, but for their hunting skills. The lions may not be seen in any zoo, or jungle doing a lot of activities in the daytime.

It’s not mandatory that the lions would stay active during the night also. Some lions may only wake up for around 4 to 6 hours in a day. The sleeping period of the lions may also get affected if they are staying in groups. Some lions may start adopting the sleeping pattern of other lions.

Conclusion

The sleeping time of the lions would be around 16 to 20 hours every day. The sleeping time of these wild animals may also vary depending on how active they are. Sometimes, if the lions are very active during the daytime, then they may sleep during the night.

The sleeping pattern of the lions is not fixed, as they may sleep anytime they want.

References

1. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/285079
2. https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1975.tb02246.x@10.1111/(ISSN)1469-7998.JZO50