How Long Do Ants Rest?
WouterDepending on the species, ants rest for different lengths of time. For instance, queen ants sleep for almost nine hours a day. On average, worker ants sleep for four hours and forty-eight minutes.
However, these are only the average lengths of sleep. There are nocturnal ants that sleep less, and there are worker ants that sleep a lot.
Worker ants will take hundreds of tiny naps a day. They will go to sleep for up to a minute, and sometimes they will nap for longer periods. These naps help the ants get recharged.
Queens tend to have longer sleep periods, but they also sleep more often. They can sleep for up to nine hours a day, compared to the four to five hours that workers sleep. They tend to have shorter naps, though.
The length of ants’ sleep varies depending on species and colonies. Some of the species hibernate during the winter months, while others sleep at different times during the day.
It is also not known whether ants have a fixed concept of day and night. However, workers may inherently have circadian rhythms. They may also be affected by social interactions within the colony.
Researchers have also been studying the sleeping habits of fire ants. They found that the workers slept for an average of four hours and forty-eight minutes each day, with a large proportion of them falling asleep at irregular intervals.
Queen ants have been shown to have longer sleeping periods, with a larger proportion of naps lasting six minutes. This is similar to humans’ sleeping habits.
