Uploaded April 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
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, published April 20 in the journal Science, 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.
The research was led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography postdoctoral fellow Jessica Kendall-Bar when she was a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz. Study co-authors include a team of researchers affiliated with UC Santa Cruz and several other research organizations.
Learn more in this news story: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/elephant-seals-drift-sleep-while-diving-far-below-ocean-surface
Science paper: science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf0566
Video by Jessica Kendall-Bar. Music by Connor Vance. NMFS 23188.
#ElephantSeal #MarineMammals #MarineBiology
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, published April 20 in the journal Science, 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.
The research was led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography postdoctoral fellow Jessica Kendall-Bar when she was a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz. Study co-authors include a team of researchers affiliated with UC Santa Cruz and several other research organizations.
Learn more in this news story: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/elephant-seals-drift-sleep-while-diving-far-below-ocean-surface
Science paper: science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf0566
Video by Jessica Kendall-Bar. Music by Connor Vance. NMFS 23188.
#ElephantSeal #MarineMammals #MarineBiology
