On average, how long does a giraffe sleep in a day in the wild?

Giraffes almost never sleep for longer than five minutes at a stretch in the wild, often modifying the position so that they remain standing with their head and neck curved around to rest on their hindquarters. More often, they sleep fully standing—again, in short bursts—or experience a sort of half-sleeping resting period, in which the eyes remain half-open, the animal stays fully upright, and the ears continue to twitch.

All in all, adult giraffes get by on just 30 minutes of sleep a night (on average). It’s the shortest sleep requirement in the entire animal kingdom!

In captivity, the giraffe sleeps intermittently around 4.6 hours per day, mostly at night. It usually sleeps lying down, however, standing sleeps have been recorded, particularly in older individuals.