When sperm whales need a nap, they take a deep breath, dive down about 45 feet and arrange themselves into perfectly-level, vertical patterns. They sleep sound and still for up to two hours at a time between breaths, in pods of 5 or 6 whales, presumably for protection. No one knew whales slept vertically until a 2008 study documented the behavior. And no one captured really good photography of it in the wild until 2017. French photographer Stephane Granzotto was documenting sperm whales in the Mediterranean for his book on the creatures when he came across these sleeping whales.
Sperm whales and their mysterious vertical sleep. Until a 2008 study documented the behavior of the sperm whales, no one knew they slept vertically. When sperm whales get tired, they take a deep breath, dive about 45 feet, and arrange themselves in perfectly leveled vertical patterns.
when sperm whales want to sleep for two or hours between breaths, they drop down to 45 feet of depth in flocks of five or six elements.French photographer and director Stephane Granzotto was documenting sperm whales in the Mediterranean for his photo book on creatures when he stumbled upon the strange behavior.
While captive sperm whales sleep with one eye open and half of their brain alert, there is evidence that they go into fuller, deeper sleep in the wild.We can also admire sperm whales thanks very rare shots by the Swiss photographer Franco Banfi, award-winning underwater photographer.
These extraordinary marine animals rest from 6 to 24 minutes, but only in 7% of cases their sleep can be defined as deepIn the Caribbean Sea, Banfi was following a family of sperm whales off the Dominican Republic together with photojournalist Sabrina Belloni, when at one point the two found themselves in front of a real show of nature.
Sperm whales have thrown themselves into a deep sleep, remaining motionless and upright.The discovery that these cetaceans sleep like this is relatively recent, in fact it was only in 2008 that a team of biologists from the United Kingdom and Japan came across this habit.
Until then, it was thought that sperm whales slept like other cetaceans in a horizontal position and with one eye open so as not to let your guard down in front of predators.
