10 Animals That Stay Up All Night

Written by Heather Hall
Updated: May 2, 2023
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Key Facts

  • Some mammals and avians come alive at nightfall when their neighbors are settling down to sleep.
  • In order to find a tasty meal by hunting or scavenging night predators must rely on finely honed senses.
  • Some creatures of the night also come equipped with other helpful natural characteristics which include impressively nimble fingers, reflexive eyes, and the ability to fly silently.
This is our list of 10 animals that are nocturnal.

Creatures that sleep during the day and are active at night are known as nocturnal, and they take the form of both predators and prey. That’s in contrast to diurnal animals — or those which are awake during the day and asleep at night. It’s also distinct from crepuscular species — which are active during dawn or twilight. The creatures on our list thrive in their nighttime habitats, and many of them have developed characteristics specifically to excel in the darkness. Here are ten of the most fascinating nocturnal animals on Earth.

#10 Barn Owl — Possessing an Ear For Easy Prey

Not only is the barn owl fully nocturnal, but it can also see up to 100 times better than humans in the dark.

©Krasula/Shutterstock.com

The fact that the barn owl is fully nocturnal — combined with the eerie sound of its shriek — has resulted in it being seen as an ill omen or a demonic creature throughout many cultures. But it turns out that the barn owl’s senses are just well-suited to hunting at night. But while they can see in darkness up to 100 times more clearly than humans, barn owls can often stalk their prey on sound alone. The fact that one ear hole is positioned higher than the other allows for a sophisticated mapping system that takes into account vertical as well as horizontal space.

The screech of the barn owl is a way to communicate with prospective mates, and you can learn more about this hauntingly unique type of owl here.

#9 Pygmy Slow Loris — Hunting at Night to Avoid Competition

Pay attention to the world of your daily, waking life and you’ll find yourself surrounded by a whole ecosystem of creatures that go well beyond the humans you pass on the streets. And while you might not see it, nighttime is just as lively. And that’s true all around the world.

The pygmy slow loris hunts at night to avoid competition with diurnal primates.

©hkhtt hj/Shutterstock.com

The primate known as the pygmy slow loris is both nocturnal and arboreal, and both are about finding the path of least resistance in terms of dealing with competition. By hunting at night, the loris can avoid having to compete with diurnal primates like monkeys and apes. Hiding in trees and branches during the day also helps them reduce the risk of being found by prey. And despite the name, the pygmy slow loris isn’t that sluggish at all.

These creatures leave their children behind while hunting and generally stay in movement the entire night — except for periods of feasting. The loris also has the distinction of being the only poisonous primate in the world, but their nighttime hunts are usually reserved for non-threatening prey like bugs and bird eggs.

#8 Cairo Spiny Mouse — Working the Night Shift

The Cairo spiny mouse can detect objects in the dark by using the hairs near its nose and mouth.

©Alexander Baluev/Shutterstock.com

While the Cairo spiny mouse is active exclusively at night, its close counterpart — the golden spiny mouse —is only active during the day. What makes this unusual is how physiologically similar these two mice are and the fact that they often occupy the same ecosystems and hunt for the same prey — albeit at opposite times of the day. This species of mouse relies on its strong senses of smell and hearing to navigate through the dark, but it’s also assisted by hairs near its nose and mouth that can be used to detect objects in the darkness. Whether they’re out at night or during the day, their prickly fur makes them an unappetizing meal for many predators.

Spiny mice are just one of over a thousand different mice species, of which you can learn more about here.

#7 Raccoon — Adapting to Urban Conditions

The reflective coating on a raccoon’s eyes helps it see in the dark.

©iLUXimage/Shutterstock.com

Raccoons have difficulty distinguishing colors and seeing objects at a distance, but their eyes have adapted a reflective coating that helps them see in the dark. But their other senses do most of the heavy lifting. A raccoon’s sense of hearing and smell is particularly strong, but they also possess an incredibly precise sense of touch with their nimble fingers. This, combined with the high intelligence of the raccoon, has made this animal particularly well adapted to living in urban environments.

While humans sleep, these animals can use their efficient sense of smell to track down garbage and their wits and puzzle-solving capabilities to make a meal of it. Raccoons actually have a reputation for being some of the most cunning animals around, which you can learn more about here.

#6 Black-footed Ferret — Prowling the Tunnels of Its Prey

Black-footed ferrets use the tunnels made by prairie dogs to hunt their prey.

©Kerry Hargrove/Shutterstock.com

This breed of ferret is a perfect example of a predator developing its methods based on its prey. Prairie dogs are active through the cool hours of the day and create complex social networks concentrated in underground tunnels — and the black-footed ferret uses those very tunnels to stalk its prey. Black-footed ferrets subsist almost entirely on prairie dogs, and as their prey became an endangered species, these animals faced population decimation as well. That’s because the black-footed ferret relies on prairie dog towns not just for subsistence but because their tunnels provide them with a place to live and to raise their young.

You can learn more about the black-footed ferret, which was once thought to be an entirely extinct animal, here.

#5 Bat — Innovation Through Echolocation

Bats use echolocation to hunt their prey.

©Rudmer Zwerver/Shutterstock.com

Logistically, it only makes sense that bats would hunt at night. It reduces the threat of predators as well as competition from other animals — primarily birds — with a similar if not identical diet. And while most species of bat isn’t as blind as folk wisdom suggests, their most effective hunting method is echolocation. Bats will project a high-frequency noise that extends into ultrasonic frequencies — and these sound waves bounce off of the surfaces, creating a map of the environment around them. Hunting sessions are usually short, as the amount of energy required to fly is high when compared with the nutritional value of insects.

Bats constitute roughly one-fifth of the world’s mammal population, and you can learn more interesting facts about these unique flying animals here.

#4 Pangolin — Walking Tanks That Hide Underground

Pangolins have a very heightened sense of smell which assists them in hunting for insects.

©Vickey Chauhan/Shutterstock.com

The life of a pangolin is a solitary one — as they spend almost their entire lives ensconced in burrows beneath the earth. They spend their nights expanding their impromptu cave networks and hunting for insects using their long tongues and a heightened sense of smell. While there are eight different species of pangolin throughout the world, they’re all unified by the unique armored scales that cover their body. Unfortunately, this animal is considered a delicacy in many places and has been driven to the brink of extinction by poachers.

You can learn more about the different species of pangolin — including one that lives in trees rather than burrowing — here.

#3 Kinkajou — Bigger Eyes For Seeing Better

A kinkajou has nearly perfect vision in the dark.

©Martin Pelanek/Shutterstock.com

Many animals rely on senses other than sight to maintain a nocturnal lifestyle — but the kinkajou has instead adapted by developing eyes that can see nearly perfect in total darkness. These arboreal creatures sleep communally in trees throughout South American and Central American rainforests and use their prehensile tails to navigate trees in search of fruit. But they also have the ability to rotate their feet 180 degrees to make traversing the jungle canopies even easier. And despite having sharp fangs like carnivorous animals, they actually subsist entirely on fruit.

Kinkajous serve a critical role in the rainforest ecosystem by spreading seeds, and you can discover more about these interesting animals here.

#2 Fennec Fox — Hiding From the Desert Sun

The fennec fox lives underground and only comes out when the temperature falls.

©DONGSEUN YANG/Shutterstock.com

The petite size and adorable features of the fennec fox make it one of the most adorable animals of the desert, but you’ll only find it if you venture out at night. The biggest threats to fennec foxes are diurnal predators like hawks and hyenas, and so these adorable animals gather together in burrows beneath the sand at night. These underground homes also keep them safe from the extreme desert heat, and they only venture out to hunt above ground only when night — and the temperature — falls. As omnivores, their evening hunts can lead them to insects or rodents as easily as fruits, plants, and roots.

Fortunately, the fennec fox gets all the hydration it needs from its food, and you can learn more facts about them here.

#1 Tasmanian Devil — Glows in the Dark

The Tasmanian devil glows in the dark by absorbing ultraviolet light.

©james_stone76/Shutterstock.com

The Tasmanian devil relies on exceptional eyesight and hearing to track down prey and evade predators, but these animals found exclusively on the island after which they’re named also possess the unique ability to glow in the dark. The snout, ears, and eyes of these animals can absorb ultraviolet light and project it as blue light. And while researchers have yet to determine exactly why this would have developed as an evolutionary advantage, it doesn’t seem to offer a disadvantage out in the wild.

If your whole frame of reference for the Tasmanian devil is from the cartoons, you can learn more about these fascinating animals here.

Summary of 10 Animals That Stay Up All Night

NumberName
1Tasmanian Devil
2Fennec Fox
3Kinkajou
4Pangolin
5Bat
6Black-footed ferret
7Racoon
8Cairo Spiny Mouse
9Pygmy Slow Loris
10Barn Owl

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Svetlana Chernyshova/Shutterstock.com


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About the Author

Heather Hall is a writer at A-Z Animals, where her primary focus is on plants and animals. Heather has been writing and editing since 2012 and holds a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture. As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, Heather enjoys hiking, gardening, and trail running through the mountains with her dogs.

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