The penguin that sleeps 11 hours a day, for just 4 seconds at a time

Everyone wants those few minutes of shut-eye in between a busy day. What if you were told that chinstrap penguins nap around 10,000 times? Hold on. They do it for just around four seconds at a time. This allows them to fulfil their daily sleep requirements while remaining continuously vigilant over their nests. Researchers from the Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre and the Korea Polar Research Institute observed the sleeping behaviour in an Antarctic chinstrap penguin colony. Here’s what the findings say. Defend their nests The researchers argued that the findings show, contrary to prior assumptions, the benefits of sleep can accrue incrementally, at least in some species. Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarcticus), named for the thin black band of plumage that extends from ear to ear, may be the most abundant species of penguin. Their current population is estimated at nearly eight million breeding pairs that are found mainly on the Antarctic Peninsula and South Atlantic Ocean islands. When nesting, single parent penguins have to keep watch over their eggs, guarding them from predatory birds called skuas while their partners are away on foraging trips that last several days. They also have to defend their nests from other penguins that might try to steal nest material. Once a penguin partner finally returns, the couple switch roles. Average bout lasts 3.91 seconds A team led by Paul-Antoine Libourel of Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre implanted electrodes on 14 birds at a colony on King George Island in December 2019. They recorded electrical activity in the brain and neck muscles, and they used accelerometers and GPS to study body movement and location. Combined with video recordings and direct observation over multiple days, they were able to identify numerous peculiarities. [caption id=“attachment_13453002” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] When nesting, single parent penguins have to keep watch over their eggs, guarding them from predatory birds called skuas while their partners are away on foraging trips that last several days. Image used for representational purpose/Pixabay[/caption] The penguins’ sleep occurred while standing or while lying to incubate their eggs, with the average bout lasting 3.91 seconds. In total, they slept more than 10,000 times a day. Penguins on the periphery got longer and deeper bouts of sleep than those in the centre — which can be explained by the excess noise and physical bumping that occurs in the middle of a colony, or the heightened risk of nest material theft. Although the scientists did not directly measure whether the birds were gaining the restorative benefits of sleep, the fact the penguins were successful at breeding led them to believe this was indeed the case, with the moments of neuronal silence providing windows for rest and recovery. In humans, however, conditions that fragment sleep such as sleep apnoea have impacts on cognitive function and might even precipitate neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer’s. “Thus, what is abnormal in humans could be perfectly normal in birds or other animals, at least under certain conditions,” wrote scientists Christian Harding and Vladyslav Vyazovskiy in a related commentary piece. With inputs from AFP