Northern elephant seals are experts on napping. They swim for months with small breaks. During their time at sea, they sleep for less than twenty minutes. They sleep for about two hours per day. This is similar to the sleep schedule of African elephants.
Researchers shared the discovery in the April 21 Science. “It’s important to map these extremes of [sleep behavior] across the animal kingdom,” says Jessica Kendall-Bar, who studies marine mammals at the University of California, San Diego. Northern elephant seals spend most of their time in the Pacific Ocean. At sea, those animals hunt for fish, squid, and other sea creatures. On the other hand, these seals are hunted by sharks and killer whales.
The seals are endangered on the surface of the sea so they come to the surface for at most thirty minutes at a time.
“People had known that these seals dive almost all the time when they’re out in the ocean. But it wasn’t known if and how they sleep,” said Niels Rattenborg, who studied animal sleep. Kendall-Bar’s team wanted to find out if northern elephant seals sleep while they dive. To find out, the researchers fit caps onto seals to record brain waves when they were sleeping.
Jennifer’s team took their two seals from Año Nuevo State Park. The researchers then released the seals at another beach, 37 miles from Año Nuevo. To go back, the seals needed to travel in the water, which is similar to the ones they experience.
Researchers shared the discovery in the April 21 Science. “It’s important to map these extremes of [sleep behavior] across the animal kingdom,” says Jessica Kendall-Bar, who studies marine mammals at the University of California, San Diego. Northern elephant seals spend most of their time in the Pacific Ocean. At sea, those animals hunt for fish, squid, and other sea creatures. On the other hand, these seals are hunted by sharks and killer whales.
The seals are endangered on the surface of the sea so they come to the surface for at most thirty minutes at a time.
“People had known that these seals dive almost all the time when they’re out in the ocean. But it wasn’t known if and how they sleep,” said Niels Rattenborg, who studied animal sleep. Kendall-Bar’s team wanted to find out if northern elephant seals sleep while they dive. To find out, the researchers fit caps onto seals to record brain waves when they were sleeping.
Jennifer’s team took their two seals from Año Nuevo State Park. The researchers then released the seals at another beach, 37 miles from Año Nuevo. To go back, the seals needed to travel in the water, which is similar to the ones they experience.