Marine animals also need to sleep

As we all know, animals on land need to sleep, although their sleeping postures and methods are different. So, do animals in the ocean also sleep? The answer is yes, they also sleep, and their sleeping postures and methods are even more special.

In fact, sleep is just a special way of taking a longer rest. Whether they are animals on land or in the sea, they all need rest, including sleep. This kind of sleep generally lasts longer for animals on land and is easily noticed by humans, while most animals in the ocean last only for a short period of time and are difficult to detect. For example, the sleep time of fish is very short, some are only a few minutes, and some are even only a few seconds. In the blink of an eye, for some fish, they have already slept.

In addition to fish, there are also many mammals living in the ocean. Although their method of sleeping is different from that of fish, they still need to sleep. For example, when a dolphin sleeps, it mostly floats about 1 foot underwater at night and falls asleep peacefully. However, its tail still swings every about 30 seconds, which has two functions: 1. One is to allow its head to come out of the water and take a breath of air; the other is to make its position in the water more stable and not affected by currents or waves. The most interesting thing is that there is a kind of Azaki dolphin, which sleeps alternately between the two hemispheres of the brain: when one hemisphere is sleeping, the other hemisphere is awake. After some time, the sleeping one wakes up, and the awakening one falls asleep again. If there is strong stimulation from the outside world, both hemispheres will wake up immediately. Therefore, they can always swim and their swimming speed does not slow down even during sleep.

Seals are different from dolphins in that they can both live underwater and climb ashore. If you sleep on the ground, it is similar to land animals; if you sleep underwater, you have to wake up every time you take a breath. This means that they take time out to sleep between breaths.

The fur seal is also a marine animal that can live in both the ocean and land. When they sleep on land, they can sleep as sweetly as land animals; when underwater, they sleep with both hemispheres of their brains in turn, just like the Azuki dolphin.

Sea otters, which live on the coast of the North Pacific, will make a "bed" of seaweed on the beach, forming an oval shape. When sleeping, they hide their bodies in the middle, with their bellies facing the sky. If it is satisfied with sleeping somewhere, it will sleep there every day.

Walruses that grow in the Arctic Ocean sleep even more differently. When it sleeps, it does not lie on its back, but lies vertically in the water, with its head above the water.

The lovable beaver usually sleeps during the day, with its head raised and sometimes grinding its teeth. Especially the little beavers, sleeping is the most interesting. They sleep side by side, and some even put their little paws under their heads.

animal tags： Seals dolphins beavers fish