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

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
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 s, but resulting in the
accumulation of over 11 h of sleep for each hemisphere. The investment in
microsleeps by successfully breeding penguins suggests that the benefits
of sleep can accrue incrementally. This repository contains raw
electrophysiological data (Electroencephalography and electromygraphy)
with identified accelerometry, ambiant temperature and depth. We also add
the different ethograms and Slow waves sleep episod detected for each
cerebral hemisphere.