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Elephant Seals Sleep While Diving, Study Suggests
from National Geographic News
Migrating northern elephant seals slowly drift downward to rest in the ocean depths, according to a new study of the animals' dive patterns. Moving from their breeding colonies in California to their wintering areas in the mid-Pacific and around Alaska, the seals spend two to eight months at sea without a single pit stop.
There's no land to climb on along the roughly 2,000- to 3,000-mile voyage, and the seabed is often miles below the surface. The marine mammals' grueling trek had many researchers wondering: When and how do elephant seals sleep?
It's long been known that, during the seals' epic migrations, the animals engage in repetitive dives down to depths of 984 feet or more. Now a study of young elephant seals has revealed that during some of these dives, elephant seals roll on their backs and allow themselves to sink.
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