Sleepy Elephant Naps In Awkward And Hilarious Position

Many people might wonder how a five-ton elephant sleeps. While lying down is not an option, this video shows the awkward way in which a bull elephant actually managed to fall asleep while standing upright and resting his head against a tree trunk.Show more

The African elephant is the largest land mammal roaming this planet, with mature bull elephants reaching weights of over five tons. Being such a big animal, the elephant needs to feed on a constant basis, right through the day and night. It is estimated that elephants feed for about twenty hours per day and if elephants are not feeding, they are near and around water drinking and cooling down during warm days. This begs the question of when do these massive animals actually rest or sleep? Incredibly enough, elephants do not enjoy a six to eight hour sleep every night like most humans do. Due to their constant need to feed, elephants take short rest pauses as they need it. Baby elephants and sub adults do lie down for a short while to sleep while the adults stand around on guard. Lying down and going into a long deep sleep is not an option and also too dangerous for most animals, unless you are a lion or a leopard. Larger elephants sometimes lean against a tree or embankment and take their short naps in an upright position. When you a lone bull elephant weighing over five tons, like the big boy in this video, your options for getting comfortable for a quick power nap are limited. I found this lone bull while out on a safari in the Kruger National Park and his behaviour fascinated me, so I decided to film an occasion that people normally don’t get to see. The large bull elephant just finished drinking water when he slowly approached a nearby tree.

The bull elephant looked very tired and everything he did was in slow motion. The elephant bull then slowly went to rest his head against the tree trunk and amazingly he started to fall asleep while standing upright. A complete head of an elephant, including tusks, trunk, and ears, can weigh over four hundred kilograms. With that in mind, it made sense for the old boy to rest that weight on a tree trunk while taking his nap. I was in awe watching the elephant bull standing in such an awkward position while being so comfortable at the same time standing sleeping. I actually felt happy for the big old elephant getting a well-deserved short nap as I can only imagine how much he has to go through on a daily basis to survive in the African wild.