News Animals

Wild elephants clock shortest shut-eye recorded for mammals

Average snooze of two hours per night deepens mystery of sleep’s role

wild elephants

SLEEP DIARIES  The first study of electronically monitored sleep in two wild elephants (one shown above) finds a record-breaking low average for mammals.

P. Manger

By Susan Milius

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Animals

  1. Volta's electric eel
    Animals

    Some electric eels coordinate attacks to zap their prey

    By Jonathan Lambert
  2. crested rats
    Plants

    Rats with poisonous hairdos live surprisingly sociable private lives

    By Susan Milius
  3. megalodon shark jaws
    Paleontology

    Newborn megalodon sharks were larger than most adult humans

    By Carolyn Gramling
  4. mice cuddling
    Neuroscience

    Mice may ‘catch’ each other’s pain — and pain relief

    By Carolyn Wilke
  5. Brown tree snake
    Animals

    Brown tree snakes use their tails as lassos to climb wide trees

    By Maria Temming
  6. huntsman spider on a branch
    Animals

    These spiders may sew leaves into fake shelters to lure frogs to their doom

    By Jake Buehler
  7. Asian giant hornet
    Animals

    Rumors of a ‘murder hornet’ apocalypse may have been exaggerated

    By Erika Engelhaupt
  8. Malawi rice paddies
    Animals

    Clearing land to feed a growing human population will threaten thousands of species

    By Jonathan Lambert

From the Nature Index

Paid Content