Do you think of cats as nocturnal animals, asleep most of the day and awake at night? Lots of people do. There are plenty of cat memes about felines frolicking around at all hours of the night, to the dismay of their sleeping humans. But are cats nocturnal? And if you’re wondering why cats sleep so much, we have the answers—along with information about how to decode your cat’s body language.
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Are cats nocturnal?
No, they’re not! Unlike possums, bats, and raccoons, cats are actually not technically nocturnal. Instead, “cats are crepuscular,” explains Michelle Lugones, DVM, a veterinarian at Best Friends Animal Society. “This means that they are wired to be most active at dusk and dawn.” So they thrive at night-adjacent times, but they’re not hardwired to sleep during the day and be awake all night.
So why do we think they’re nocturnal?
Well, return to the memes. “Many people think that cats are nocturnal because most people who have a cat will attest to the fact that their cat wakes them up in the middle of the night regularly,” Dr. Lugones says. “But that overnight activity usually correlates to their crepuscular tendencies.” Here’s how to tell how smart your cat is, by the way.
Why are cats so active at night?
This is because of cats’ evolutionary past as desert hunters. “These times [are] when the temperatures are the coolest in the desert, which makes it more tolerable to hunt,” Dr. Lugones says. “Hunting at dusk and dawn provides cats some cover because of the darkness, but gives them just enough light to hunt in (which their eyes are designed for).” Speaking of their eyes, can cats see in the dark?
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