How? Very carefully.
Aquatic mammals have a unique challenge when it comes to sleeping. They have a voluntary respiratory system (as opposed to our mostly involuntary one), meaning that they have to come to the surface, actively open the flap of skin covering their blowhole, and then take a breath. But they also need to sleep. How do they do it?
Observations of dolphins have shown biologists that they sleep either floating still at the surface (called “logging”, a deeper sleep) or by swimming very slowly, usually with another dolphin around. You might be wondering “But Joe, how can they swim if they are asleep?”, to which I say “Nice to see you’re paying attention …”
Dolphin sleep is not like human sleep. I couldn’t find any examples of them reaching anything like our deep REM sleep. Instead they seem to do something that resembles napping. They are able to “shut off” one half of their brain and the opposing eye, with the other half staying awake to watch for danger and to control the voluntary breathing. Infant dolphins get pushed along in their mothers’ slipstream while resting, since their lack of buoyancy means that they have to swim or sink. And all whales have the ability to tolerate much more carbon dioxide in their blood than we can, allowing this sleep/breathe trade-off to work.
So while dolphins spend about as much time per day as we do in a sleep-like state, they space it out throughout the day, and can be more active at night when there’s lots of squiddy snacks to be had. Every animal needs rest, especially one with the brain energy demands of a dolphin. They’ve just evolved a very unique and useful way to get that rest.
An Adelie penguin, looking like the Swiss animated character Pingu, bows its head and seems to smile at the camera on Paulet Island, Antarctica.
(Photo: JenFu Cheng / Solent News via the Telegraph)
With that, I’m gonna go watch Pingu for an hour.
Reblogged from inothernews with 338 notes / Animals Pingu True Story
Each year, more than two million live animals travel on commercial aircraft in the United States.
This collection of endangered seahorses was part of an exhibition at the London Zoo of animals seized by Metropolitan Police from smugglers. According to a roundup of the illegal pet trade in 2006 from LiveScience, up to 21.6 million seahorses are captured and traded illegally each year, some of which belong to endangered species, for use in Chinese medicine.
These otters made it through airport security without issue because the TSA knew they were coming. But there are travelers who try to smuggle animals without permission through the air across state or international borders.
CHA-SMALL-EON The Brookesia micra chameleon, believed to be the world smallest, has been discovered on the island of Madagascar, German and American biologists announced on February 16, 2012. The lizard, with a 16-millimetre body, measures 29 millimeters with its tail full extended. (Photo: Reuters via MSNBC.com)
Reblogged from inothernews with 405 notes / News Science Animals
This really happens: Japanese zoo uses life-size papier-mâché rhinos to simulate animal escape and rescues.
Reblogged from theatlanticvideo with 17 notes / Zoo Japan Animals
Scientists believe that this is the animal from which everything else evolved. The first multicellular being that spawned every living being in this world through billions of mutations, from fish to amphibians to reptiles to birds to mammals to you. It’s an amazing discovery. Its name is Otavia antiqua, and it is the oldest animal ever discovered: 760 million years old. Scientists claim that it used to chill out in calm, nice, shallow waters, chewing on algae and bacteria through its pores and into its little tube body.
Read: You Come From This Thing: The Oldest Animal Ever Discovered
Reblogged from brooklynmutt with 2,067 notes / Science Otavia Antiqua Animals
Rajan still swims for ten minutes twice a day, completing about 500 yards before heading back to shore.
(source)
