24 Endearing Photos of Animals Sleeping

A female leopard basks in the afternoon sun in Mombo, Botswana.

"I caught this little guy dozing at the boat dock in Valdez, Alaska," writes Your Shot photographer Joianna Carson. "He seemed to be oblivious to everything that was going on around him."

Your Shot photographer Senthi Aathavan Sethiverl captured this moment between a baby monkey and its mother at the Katagamuwa Sanctuary in Sri Lanka.

An orphaned sloth takes a nap at the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica.

A pair of tern chicks sleep side by side on the beach at Stump Pass State Park, Florida.

In the Indian Ocean, a group of more than 30 adult sperm whales are sleeping at a depth of 15 meters. They stand like this without moving for minutes or hours. All are females, and all the calfs are at the surface while parents are sleeping.

"I saw this teeny-tiny baby chameleon sleep-hanging on a plant, while walking back to my tent at night in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar," writes Your Shot photographer S.R. "Rather than blast the little guy with a flash, I used my headlamp to illuminate it and took this shot."

An arctic fox sleeps in his den.

A pride of lions sleeps together in the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

A slumbering leopard drapes itself across a tree branch.

A polar bear gets some sleep before heading out onto the sea ice.

Japanese macaques take a rest in thermal hot springs in Nagano, Japan.

An owl catches a wink of sleep while taking in the early morning rays in Bangalore, India. "The raised leg gives the impression of a monk in meditation," observed Your Shot photographer Girish Prahalad.

A pair of red foxes take a rest.

A koala dozes in a tree in the suburbs of New South Wales, Australia.

"Just a lovely sleeping seal," writes Your Shot photographer Vladimir Snegov.

"While travelling in Alaska I stopped at the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge and had the opportunity to watch the Grizzly bears playing the water. This one bear decided he needed a nap so he climbed up on this log, lay down and fell asleep," writes Your Shot photographer Carol Bock.

A gosling nestles under the wing of its mother along the shore of a pond in Alberta, Canada.

Cheetah cubs have a nap in Cape Town, South Africa.

"These hippo have found the best way to sleep through the morning—cuddling!" writes Your Shot photographer John MacDonald. "With our boat passing close by, a couple of eyes were opened to check us out, but the cuddle remained."

A fallow deer strikes a somnolent pose.

A conspiracy of lemurs take a nap.

A king penguin rests on the beach of Volunteer Point in the Falkland Islands.

A fawn takes a midday rest in Waterton Park, Canada.