These Penguins Take 10,000 Naps Per Day

When it comes to power naps, the chinstrap penguin is king. Researchers in Antarctica have determined that the species will doze off for four seconds per nap, up to 10,000 times a day. Their study appears in the journal Science.

The scientists fitted 14 penguins in a breeding colony with electrodes to measure their brain activity, movements, and body position; they also recorded the birds on video for the 11 days they watched the birds dozing on and off, relentlessly. The penguins, on average, each took 10,000 “micro-sleeps” of about four seconds each. The researchers did not record a nap that was longer than 34 seconds.

As far as we know, no other animal has sleep patterns like these. So why these guys? The scientists think it has to do with protecting their developing eggs, allowing nearly constant vigilance against predators. It’s also possible that a longer sleep simply can’t be done when you’re in a colony of thousands of noisy penguins. 

Next up the researchers will study chinstrap penguins outside of breeding season, to observe whether micro-naps are a year-round phenomenon or are restricted to egg setting. They also want to watch other polar animals at sleep, such as Weddell seals, to spy on their rest cycles.

In any case the chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus), named for the stylish thin line of black plumage that extends from ear to ear, is doing fine in the wild. There are an estimated eight million breeding pairs, probably napping right now, on the Antarctic Peninsula and South Atlantic Ocean islands. 

Photo credit: Daisy Gilardini / Science