'We found that sleep is much more flexible than expected,' say scientists researching Chinstrap penguins' 10,000 daily microsleeps
'We found that sleep is much more flexible than expected,' say scientists researching Chinstrap penguins' 10,000 daily microsleeps
It is the first time an animal has been shown to sustain such highly fragmented sleep, suggesting the benefits of sleep may be achieved gradually, according to the authors of the study, published in“We usually think that animals sleep the time they need to sleep,” said Paul-Antoine Libourel, co-lead author of the study and a sleep researcher at, said penguins are having a particularly hard time with climate change because there has been a significant decrease in their food supply, which means...
Lee believes the study contradicts received wisdom that microsleeping is not particularly functional.The researchers examined penguins at sea and on King George Island off the coast of Antarctica for 11 days in December 2019 during breeding season, when they had to constantly guard their eggs against predators or defend their nests from other penguins. The birds breed amid large colonies of thousands.
He added that perhaps one day people will find out how to develop similar microsleep patterns, but it might not be a good thing. “I wouldn’t like to sleep like penguins because you’re never awake and never sleeping,” he said. “This is not the way we live.”