Giraffes need so much time to eat that they spend very little time sleeping

Tico, a 20-month-old giraffe, licks his neck while checking out his new enclosure at the Wild Place Project in Bristol, England. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA Wire/dpa

Eight hours of sleep would be heaven for a giraffe. The gentle and sensitive animals sleep only about four-and-a-half hours within 24 hours – and not even at a stretch.

“This is also due to their enormous size and the fact that they consume leaves, which are low in energy, ” says Florian Sicks, biologist and curator at the Wildlife Park Berlin. Or, to put it differently, giraffes simply need a lot of time to eat.