Nesting chinstrap penguins accrue large quantities of sleep through seconds-long microsleeps

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Libourel, P. -A.; Lee, W. Y.; Achin, I.; Chung, H.; Kim, J.; Massot, B.; Rattenborg, N. C.
• 署名单位: Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm); Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI); Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Lyon - INSA Lyon
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8394
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adh0771
• 发表日期: 2023-12-01
• 页码: 1026-1031
• 关键词: emperor penguins; king penguins; awake

摘要

Microsleeps, the seconds-long interruptions of wakefulness by eye closure and sleep-related brain activity, are dangerous when driving and might be too short to provide the restorative functions of sleep. If microsleeps do fulfill sleep functions, then animals faced with a continuous need for vigilance might resort to this sleep strategy. We investigated electroencephalographically defined sleep in wild chinstrap penguins, at sea and while nesting in Antarctica, constantly exposed to an egg predator and aggression from other penguins. The penguins nodded off >10,000 times per day, engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds, but resulting in the accumulation of >11 hours of sleep for each hemisphere. The investment in microsleeps by successfully breeding penguins suggests that the benefits of sleep can accrue incrementally.