Elephant seals drift off to sleep while divin

For the first time, scientists have recorded brain activity in a free-ranging, wild marine mammal, revealing the sleep habits of elephant seals during the months they spend at sea. The new findings show that while elephant seals may spend 10 hours a day sleeping on the beach during the breeding season, they average just 2 hours of sleep per day when they are at sea on months-long foraging trips. They sleep for about 10 minutes at a time during deep, 30-minute dives, often spiraling downward while fast asleep, and sometimes lying motionless on the seafloor.

Related Keywords

Sonoma ,California ,United States ,Switzerland ,Monterey Bay ,Monterey Canyon ,Zurich ,Züsz ,Swiss ,Taiki Adachi ,Pacific Ocean ,Jessica Kendall ,Daniel Lozano ,Terrie Williams ,Patrick Robinson ,Oleg Lyamin ,Alexei Vyssotski ,Roxanne Beltran ,Theresa Keates ,Rachel Holser ,Office Of Naval Research ,Uc San Diego Scripps Institution Of Oceanography ,Neurophysiology Lab ,National Science Foundation ,Julie Pitman At Sleep Health ,Long Marine Laboratory ,Ritika Mukherji At University Of Oxford ,University Of Zurich ,Daniel Crocker At Sonoma State University ,Swiss Federal Institute Of Technology ,Institute Of Marine Sciences ,Jessica Kendall Bar ,Daniel Costa ,Nuevo Reserve ,North Pacific Ocean ,Scripps Institution ,Comparative Neurophysiology Lab ,Santa Cruz ,Dan Costa ,Ritika Mukherji ,Julie Pitman ,Sleep Health ,Daniel Crocker ,Sonoma State University ,Swiss Federal Institute ,