Worker Ant
Feeling Antsy?
Worker ants are tiny power-nappers!
~250 tiny naps
Imagine taking hundreds of naps every single day!
In one study, worker fire ants averaged about 253 tiny sleep episodes per day, with each snooze lasting only around a minute.
Now You Know!
Hundreds of tiny naps added up to almost 5 hours of sleep!
Instead of one long bedtime, these worker ants spread their sleep throughout the entire day and night.
How does a worker ant sleep?
- How long?
About 1 minute at a time
Based on a laboratory study of red imported fire ants.
- When?
Day and night
- How?
Hundreds of tiny naps
From Sleep, Nap, Snooze
Feeling Antsy?
The worker ant may be tiny, but its unusual sleep schedule earns it a spot in Sleep, Nap, Snooze: The Bed Habits of Animals.
Explore the BookKeep snoozing...
Discover All Animal Sleep FactsFor parents & teachers
Is this really true? Sources & further reading
Yes, with an important detail. The famous 250-naps figure comes from a laboratory study of red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta).
Workers in the study averaged about 253 sleep episodes per day, with each episode lasting about 1.1 minutes. Together, those tiny naps added up to roughly 4.8 hours of sleep per day.
The result should not automatically be applied to every ant species.
- Animal:
- Worker Ant
- Scientific name:
- Solenopsis invicta