Limits RegistryPUBLIC RECORD
Limits RegistryEmperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) fast for up to about 4 months during the Antarctic winter breeding season while incubating eggs, losing nearly half their body mass — among the longest voluntary fasts documented in a warm-blooded animal; some giant tortoises and certain snakes are separately documented surviving well over a year without food due to extremely low metabolic rates.
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Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) fast for up to about 4 months during the Antarctic winter breeding season while incubating eggs, losing nearly half their body mass — among the longest voluntary fasts documented in a warm-blooded animal; some giant tortoises and certain snakes are separately documented surviving well over a year without food due to extremely low metabolic rates.
The longest period documented, under natural or controlled conditions, that an individual animal survived without any food intake while remaining alive, as reported in zoological/physiological literature.
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Limits Registry. LR-LONGEST-DOCUMENTED-ANIMAL-FASTING-PERIOD. Longest documented fasting period survived by an animal without food. 2026.