Social media is full of adorable animal videos that will melt your heart. Whether it’s a cute baby animal or a funny pet, there is a post out there that can make your day 10 times better. One of these videos comes from Instagram. Posted by @ducks_in_space_, a cute duckling is wearing a knitted frog hat, and is easily the cutest thing you’ll see all week. Read on to learn more about baby ducklings.
Ducklings follow a polyphasic sleep schedule.
©Andrii Zastrozhnov/Shutterstock.com
A Cute Video
In the video linked above, an adorable duckling is sitting on a bed with a cute frog hat on its head. The duckling is living its best life, nodding its head as it begins to fall asleep. Right as its head dips down, its little hat falls off, startling it awake again. This duckling is doing what all of us probably wish we could be doing right now: falling asleep in our comfy beds. The crocheted hat perched on the duckling’s head makes the video even cuter. With the hat on, the duckling looks even cozier than it already does.
How Ducklings Sleep
Just like for any baby, sleep is important for ducklings! Rather than sleeping long, consecutive hours like humans, ducklings sleep in short naps. This pattern is called polyphasic sleep, where they switch between resting and active states throughout the day. Most ducklings sleep around 10 to 12 hours each day to help them grow. As they grow into adulthood, their sleeping hours become shorter and less frequent, typically totaling 10 hours or less. As ducklings get older and become more active, they have less time to sleep throughout the day. They have many more responsibilities, such as feeding themselves and eventually taking care of their own ducklings. The duckling in the video is living it up, though, something I’m sure we’re all jealous of.
Whether you’re taking care of a duckling or are just curious, there are several ways to help ensure they get plenty of sleep. Making sure the environment is warm and comfortable is essential. Because keeping warm takes energy, a warm environment helps the duckling stay healthy. As they are constantly switching between active and resting states, making sure they have plenty of water and food close by is important as well. Also, making sure there are minimal disturbances like noises or bright lights will help the duckling rest well. While these tips are important for ducklings, we can probably apply them to our own sleep routines as well.
