Sleeping/Drifting Sperm Whales
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Uploaded by britoca on Feb 20, 2008
Researchers studying the resting behavior of wild sperm whales have found evidence that whales literally 'drift' off to sleep.
Dr Patrick Miller of the University of St Andrews, reveals a novel drifting behaviour that sperm whales perform and is backed up by rare video footage captured on the ocean.
The video was co-incidentally captured by a team led by fellow St Andrews' researcher Dr Luke Rendell off the coast of Northern Chile. The footage shows half a dozen sperm whales eerily floating vertically in a motionless manner, with their heads either at or just below the surface of the sea. Three of them were `unusually non-responsive' to the approaching boat, until it accidentally touched one of them.
The researchers believe that the video also seems to show that the whales were asleep with both eyes shut. Previous studies of captive dolphins has suggested that cetaceans sleep with one side of the brain at a time.
The research demonstrates that sperm whales in the wild switch off completely for short periods of time, having 'cat naps' while performing slow rhythmic dives. The St Andrews team believe their study shows that sperm whales may sleep less than any other mammal in the wild.
http://tinyurl.com/36fgal
(http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/Title,19526,en.html)
- 29 likes, 1 dislikes
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killer whales look theyre a sleep lets feast
12ock 1 year ago
OMG! that is what we should have seen on our whale wathching trip! we only saw dolphins though!
BreA988 2 years ago
lol. No they're fine.
The leading cause of death for Left Whales is bad tangoing
Silvermoth2 2 years ago
what about Giant Squid?
Silvermoth2 2 years ago
Neat. Female Sperm Whales and Calfs only predator that kills them are Orcas. However the adult male bull sperm whale has no predators and Orcas will avoid them as they know that the huge males are strong enough to kill any orcas in it's way.
Dinospikester 3 years ago
what about the left whale?
joeno646 3 years ago
Better keep quiet
The whales are dreaming....zzzzzzzzzz
jaspalboparai 3 years ago
Cool
Whales' sleeping has always puzzled me
severmine 3 years ago
When this video first came out it had sound. The voice of a very terrified young woman. Does anyone know where I can find it with the sound?
jjillylilly 3 years ago
It would be awful to hit one, really awful for the whale. Ship strikes are the leading cause of death for many whales, in particular the very endangered Right Whale.
biologygirl9999 3 years ago