World Wildlife Fund Shares Cool and Little-Known Fact About Dolphins
If you need a moment or two of Zen in your crazy day, this video that World Wildlife Fund (WWF) shared of a pod of bottlenose dolphins swimming in clear blue water is it! The video was shared at the end of January 2024, and while it's definitely relaxing, they also share a really cool dolphin fact that's pretty shocking!
Dolphins seem to have a very unique way of sleeping. Most of us close our eyes and (eventually) our conscious brain shuts down and we drift off to sleep. WWF explains the interesting way that dolphins sleep in their caption, "Did you know that bottlenose dolphins can sleep with one-half of their brain turned on? This helps them keep an eye on their group and look out for predators."
Pretty interesting, right! Dolphins are always so playful and I guess I never considered how they actually slept! @WWF shares these kinds of facts often, so if you like random animal facts, you should definitely follow them. They do amazing work around the world with animals too...another good reason to give them a follow!
Related: Playful Dolphin Flipping Through the Air Will Definitely Make People's Day
Other Interesting Dolphin Sleep Facts
Dolphins aren't the only ones that sleep this way - whales do too! ScientificAmerican.com explains this type of sleeping. It's called "unihemispheric sleep" and it's necessary for their survival by preventing them from drowning. Dolphins have a "voluntary respiratory system" and have to remain conscious so that they can use their blowhole to get air. Another cool fact about only using half of their brain while sleeping - they close the eye opposite of the side of the brain they are using...they are quite literally half asleep!
Dolphins generally sleep at night, but only for a couple of hours at a time. Dolphins sleep two different ways, they either rest quietly while being still in the water and floating vertically or horizontally, or they sleep while swimming slowly next to another animal each other. Another deeper form of sleep that they fall into is called logging, because when they sleep that way, they look like a log floating on top of the water.
New mothers cannot quit swimming at all during the first few weeks of their babies lives to prevent their babies from sinking since they don't have enough body fat to keep them buoyant. This type of swimming is known as echelon swimming, and they sleep on the move. New human parents know the feeling!
Who knew that the way that an animal sleeps could be so interesting! It's always cute to watch pets sleep and to catch them wagging their tails or even sometimes dreaming. I never thought about how marine animals actually sleep, or if they even sleep. Most animals do need sleep, but dolphins have figured out how to do it on the go. Pretty amazing!
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