Subject: Sleep
Michael Wiliamson (williams@www1.wheelock.edu)
Sun, 09 Mar 1997 10:01:45 -0500
How do whales sleep?
It is believed that whales take catnaps where they can
"shut" down one half of their brain at a timne to rest. The
other halk monitors the body, breathing, and environment.
Do they float on the surface?
They are positively buoyant with their oil, blubbler, and
lungs, and negatively buoyant with muscle and bone, so the
lungs and possibly some other mechanisms in other whales ack
as a buoyancy compensator as in SCUBA divers or swim
bladders in fish.
How do they breathe when they sleep?
Their respiration slows to about one blow every 2 or three
minutes in larger whales and this is monitored by the
"awake" side of the brain.
Mike Williamson
WhaleNet
PS-Please use the ASK a scientist link in the future and not
the listserv link. Your question might not bet answered
this way. because we might not find it.
Please let me know.
Thank you
Morgan Husty, Age 7
London, Ontario
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J. Michael Williamson
Principal Investigator-WhaleNet <http://whale.wheelock.edu>
Associate Professor-Science
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