Can you guess how flamingos SLEEP?

Giraffes can do it leaning against a tree, but...

FOR most of us, it’s pretty predictable when and where we are going to sleep. But finding the right time and place for a snooze can be a challenge for wild animals.

To keep warm and safe from predators, they have developed some very interesting ways of resting.

Did you know that birds don’t use nests for sleeping? Nests are for keeping eggs and chicks safe, not for birdy bedtimes. So, where do they sleep? Well, all sorts of places, but always somewhere safe and warm, and this can be high up on a branch in a tree or down on the ground, perhaps in dense undergrowth. But wherever birds choose to settle for the night, it’s called ‘roosting’.

Ducks roost together next to water and in a long line for safety. The two ducks at each end of the line only half- sleep, keeping one eye closed and one eye open to watch for danger. The ducks in the middle close both eyes, knowing they are being looked after. And if there is any danger, they all jump into the water!

Imagine falling asleep not just when standing up but while balancing rather elegantly on just one leg. That’s what flamingos do. Some people can’t even do that when they are awake! Spiders take little naps all through the day and night. They sleep in different places depending on what sort of spider they are. Some sleep in the safety of their webs. others find a dark, quiet spot to take a spidery snooze.

Some, such as tarantulas, snuggle down in underground burrows. But wherever they choose to snooze, it’s hard to tell if they’re asleep since they don’t close their eyes, because they don’t have eyelids.

So, the best way to tell if a spider is resting is by looking at its hairy body language. Some species lower their bodies to the ground and curl their legs under. Spiders that catch their prey in webs usually hang out on their silky net in a motionless state of sleep until something lands on it, when they spring into action.

Snails are generally most active at night, preferring warm, damp conditions where their slimy bodies won’t dry out. If it gets too cold, they retreat into their shells for a sleep, plugging the entrance with a layer of gooey mucus until things warm up again.

They can stay that way for years. Yes, years! In fact, in 1846, a desert snail from Egypt that everyone thought was dead was given to the curators at the British Museum in London, who glued it to their display. Much to everyone’s astonishment, the snail woke up four years later, ate some cabbage, then lived for another two years.

For giraffes, the tallest creatures on Earth, sleeping is a pain in the neck. In the wild, giraffes hardly ever lie down because, with their long necks, it would take them far too long to get up, making them easy pickings for predators looking for a meal.

So, giraffes rest standing up, snoozing for about ten minutes at a time with their eyes barely closed in a state of half- sleep. Their necks are often tilted slightly forward as they slumber, or they may lean up against a tree or even another giraffe. They are always on the alert, their ears twitching for any sign of danger. A cute creature that lives its life in slow motion is the koala from eastern Australia. Koalas eat mostly leaves, and their favourite variety is from the eucalyptus tree.

They eat more than a kilogram of leaves a day – that’s about the same weight as three tins of beans. Eating this quantity of eucalyptus would be poisonous to us, but koalas have a special gut that copes with all the nasty stuff. All that eating and digesting takes up a lot of energy though, which is why they spend around 18 hours a day asleep.

So, as you can see, animals have some rather unusual sleeping habits. I expect you would too, if you had to keep an eye out for danger at all times, or wait for your dinner to turn up.