Chinstrap penguins take catnaps instead sleeping for a long period of time, researchers found.
Chinstrap penguins in Antarctica need to guard their eggs and chicks around-the-clock in crowded, noisy colonies.
Chinstrap penguins, named for the thin line of black facial feathers resembling a chinstrap, usually lay their eggs in pebble nests in November.
For the first time, the scientists tracked the sleeping behavior of chinstrap penguins in an Antarctic breeding colony by attaching sensors that measure brain waves.
"For these penguins, microsleeps have some restorative functions — if not, they could not endure," he said.
Persons:
—, Niels Rattenborg, Max Planck, Chinstrap, King, King George Island, Won Young Lee, Paul, Antoine Libourel, Daniel Paranhos Zitterbart
Organizations:
Service, WASHINGTON, Max, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Korean Polar Research, Neuroscience Research, of Lyon, Penguins, Oceanographic, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science, Educational Media Group, AP
Locations:
Germany, King George, Antarctica, France, Massachusetts