Community Magazine January 2019

Exploring the Mysteries of the Animal Kingdom Horses snooze while standing up, but in order to fall into a deep sleep, they need to lie down — though they usually don’t do that for very long, since on average, horses only need around two and a half hours of deep sleep a day. Most of this sleep occurs in many short intervals of about fifteen minutes each. Horses don’t like sleeping on the ground, anyway. In the wild, horses are prey animals. A horse off its feet is more open to attacks (and it takes horses longer than most other animals to pull themselves up), while a standing position is safer, as the horse is always ready to run away if a predator approaches. In horse herds, when a group of horses needs to lie down to sleep, at least one horse usually remains standing, in order to keep an eye out for any potential threats. Do Horses Sleep Standing Up? Torah The horse plays a big role in the Gemara and Midrash. One of the traits of the horse that is discussed is its sleeping habits. The Gemara in Berachot (3b) states that David Hamelech would not sleep longer than a horse, even at night. The Gemara in Sukkah (26b) discusses the amount of time that a person is allowed to sleep during the day: Rav said: It is forbidden for a person to sleep during the day longer than the amount of time that a horse sleeps. And what is the amount of time that a horse sleeps? It is for sixty respirations (breaths). I See You! Horses have the largest eyes of any land mammal. 118 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE