Brainwave patterns show elephant seals take short naps while holding their breath on deep dives, averaging just 2 hours of sleep per day while at sea. For the first time, scientists have recorded brain activity in a free-ranging, wild marine mammal, revealing the sleep habits of elephant seals du
Scientists have discovered that elephant seals only average two hours of sleep per day when they are at sea on long foraging trips, with short naps occurring during deep, 30-minute dives. The study, led by Jessica Kendall-Bar at UC Santa Cruz, is the first to record brain activity in a wild marine mammal, shedding light on their unique sleep habits.
Elephant seals sleep about 10 hours a day on the beach, but during months-long foraging trips at sea they average just 2 hours of sleep per day. These 2-month-old northern elephant seals are sleeping on the beach at Año Nuevo State Park. Credit: Photo by Jessica Kendall-Bar, NMFS 23188 In fact, during their months at sea, elephant seals rival the record for the least sleep among all mammals, currently held by African elephants, which appear to sleep just two hours per day based on their movement patterns.
Cetaceans and otariids keep one side of their brains awake while the other is asleep . In most other mammals, including phocids and humans, both hemispheres of the brain are asleep at the same time. Credit: Graphic by Jessica Kendall-Barthat can reliably record brain activity in wild elephant seals during their normal diving behavior at sea.
At the depths at which this happens, the seals are usually negatively buoyant and continue to fall passively in a corkscrew spiral “like a falling leaf,” Williams said. In shallower waters over the continental shelf, elephant seals sometimes sleep while resting on the seafloor.
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