Do you know how a whale sleeps? Where and how does the whale sleep in the water?

Perhaps many did not ask themselves about how the whales sleep. It turns out that this is a very interesting topic for reflection. After all, having large body sizes, a significant part of the mass of which is fat tissue, huge whales possess little buoyancy. And this means that the animal will slowly sink into the depths without moving its tail.

From this article you can find out how the whale sleeps. Scientists recently found the answer to such a rather curious question.

Some general information about whales

Whales are mammals, fully adapted to life in the water, belonging to the order of cetaceans. Like porpoises and dolphins, these aquatic mammals are believed to have originated from terrestrial animals that returned to water about 50 million years ago, after living on the earth for several million years.

There are two suborder of whales on earth: moustached and toothy. To toothy are sperm whales, killer whales and beluga. They hunt in the deepest waters for large fish. Moustached whales (filterers): blue and hunchbacked. They feed on smaller organisms such as plankton, krill, etc. In their mouth, a large volume of sea water is filtered through a peculiar comb-like tissue called a whalebone.

Before we know where and how the whale sleeps in the water, we will conduct a short excursion into ancient times.

About the Ancestors of Whales

If you swim for a long time on the water, fatigue in any case will take its own, so any living creature needs rest and sleep. Absolutely all mammals also need to sleep, including those who live in water: whales and dolphins. Cetaceans of our times, it turns out, cope with this problem "in limbo". But their ancestors, as is known, many millions of years ago were terrestrial animals.

Ancient hummock (pakitsety), after leaving the land, left once in the ocean. This is due to the presence in its depths of diverse, abundant and more accessible food.

For the first time, the pakyeti hunted for shallow-water fish and returned afterwards to rest on the shore. But the competition that existed at that time forced these animals to swim for their prey further and further into the ancient ocean of Tethys. And then they completely lost the opportunity to return to the land, and therefore there was a need to learn to sleep in the water. The Pakistanis have managed to adapt to this for many millions of years. This period is not surprising, because an animal that wants to settle for the night in the water has to overcome many obstacles, and deadly dangerous.

How the whale sleeps: photo

In general, whales sleep often, but not for long. When these giants are immersed in water, they fall asleep for only a couple of minutes. In total, sleep whales have about 15 minutes in a few hours of swimming.

The immersion of this huge sea creature takes place at a shallow depth, after which the whale again rises to the surface with a reflex movement of the tail to inhale another portion of air. This cycle is repeated again and again. This is similar to the state of a slumbering person, "pecking at the nose." In this way, large whales manage to receive several tens of minutes of sleep in a few hours.

Scientists could not understand how a whale sleeps, constantly floating and in constant motion. Now it became clear. So scientists denied the theory that the process of sleep in whales is similar to the process that exists in dolphins.

And how do dolphins sleep? A little earlier it became known that dolphins possess a more complex biological mechanism. They have two hemispheres of the brain of the head sleep in turn, in connection with which the dolphin, in contrast to the whale, is able to constantly stay awake.

About danger

How does a whale sleep in water? This is difficult to imagine, since this is a task for them of increased complexity. Why?

1) Falling asleep in the water, mammals are at risk of dying from the cold, because the heat produced by the body quickly dissipates in its environment. And in connection with the fact that water has a greater thermal conductivity than air, the animal in it cools faster.

2) Unlike fish, whales need a periodic float to get a certain amount of air. Therefore, they must make great efforts so that the body does not sink too deeply. Otherwise, there is an opportunity to drown.

3) Smaller species of cetaceans (pinnipeds and dolphins) in a dream can be a victim of predators, because there are no sheltered places in the water to hide for sleep, and to rise to the surface is constantly necessary for inspiration. And there most often and attack their predators.

It follows that a dream for species of cetaceans, especially for their ancestors, is a real test.

A bit about the features

The most important curious fact is how the whale sleeps. But there are other interesting points about these mammals.

1. According to most etymologists, the word "whale" came from the German hwal. But there is another opinion that it originated from the old English word, translated as a "wheel", since the back of this mammal, protruding on the surface of the water, resembles the edge of a huge wheel.

2. A feature of whales and other cetaceans is that they move in the water due to the movement of the tails vertically up and down. In this they differ from fish, in which the tails move from side to side when swimming.

Conclusion

Long ago, about the question of how the whale sleeps, the answer was only assumptions. Before the creation of the first submarines, it was difficult to conduct any research on life in the depths of the seas and oceans.

For a long time, sleep and whales, and dolphins for scientists was a mystery. In fact, everything turned out to be much more interesting and complicated.