When we speak about horses sooner or later probably someone will ask “Is it true that horses sleep while they’re standing? In fact this is one of the of the most common beliefs that people associate to horses. But is it true?
Here you will find the answer. They are able to sleep while standing, but this doesn’t happen every time. They sleep on their “feet” only when they are in situations or places that (in their opinion) are not completely safe. This is a very ancient system to defend themselves from predators, in fact if they sleep like this they are already prepared to run away from the danger. Naturally while sleeping the muscles don’t waste lot of energy this because the structure of this animal is done to support lot of weight with the minimal use of energy.
His ligaments are done in a way that they “freeze” and balance perfectly the animal so the muscles don’t have to work.
But like I said before, horses sleep like this when they are out of their “comfort zone”, while when they feel safe and far away from other dangerous animals or uncomfortable situations they sleep like all the other animals, on the ground. Sleeping like this the animal leans all his weight on one of his sides of the body, and the internal organs move slowly to the side, this brings the horse at sleeping in this way for no more than one hour. When they sleep like this they are in the REM phase.
To make other examples of animals that sleep while standing, we have to mention without doubt the:
- Zebra, that we can define a far relative of the horse -Elephants -and finally giraffes
All these animals use this particular type of sleeping as a defense response to all the predators that live in their ecosystem. I don’t know if you noticed, but all these animals are vegetarians and this is their way to survive.
Sources
https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-horses-sleep-standing-up