Scientific Discovery on Penguins Micro-Naps

A new discovery has been found about penguins’ sleep schedules. This finding relates to the specific breed of penguins called chinstrap penguins which are found in the southern pacific Antarctic oceans. Chinstrap penguins are a relatively small species of penguins that are very social. While these penguins are in their nesting, they take micro naps for the purpose of staying alert to protect their eggs. This strategy results in them taking up to over 10,000 micro naps per day, each day the micro naps equate to over 11 hours of sleep. Each nap lasts about 4 seconds and it is estimated to be about 600 micro naps per hour. This takes place only during their incubation period where the penguins are guarding their eggs.

Chinstrap penguins have an incubation period of about 37 days where every few days the father and mother switch positions to care for the eggs before they hatch, which is not always typical for penguin species. This survival tactic is not only protecting the penguins but also their eggs, because of how vulnerable they are, they have predators such as skuas, and giant petrels that target the eggs and chicks. Chinstrap penguins’ main predators are leopard seals.

This discovery is opening the realms of how animals can sustain life, many animals have unusual adaptations and abilities for a variety of reasons relating to sleep but none seem to be as wild as over 10,000 naps a day. For example bottlenose dolphins are able to sleep with half their brain at a time. Imagining this schedule as a human is about the same as imagining living underwater and going to the surface to breathe 10,000 times a day. As a human it would simply be impossible to attempt. I can imagine for the penguins, they would essentially always be in a form of light sleep since for these about 37 days they are never in any form of deep sleep.

This discovery has been very important to the scientific community, it is baffling scientists especially because in the Antarctic winter there is 24 hours a day of continuous sun. I know I would have trouble sleeping if the sun never set. The 4 intervals that chinstrap penguins endure allows them to sustain this. I would not be able to imagine the only sleep I received was from moments of exhaustion and nodding off hundreds of times. Many questions are remaining from scientists but they will continue to research this strange phenomenon.

HARRIET ENGBERS

Former Guest Writer at The City Voice