| Scientists
discovered that a gray whale can rest or sleep in these ways:
- While it swims slowly.
- While it lies very still on the surface of the
water.
- While it lies very still on the bottom.
(You and I breathe without thinking about it, but whales must
think about when to breathe. They can only rest on the
bottom
for a few minutes before coming up for a breath!)
Here's
another thing that makes it hard to tell if a whale is resting.
It might have both eyes open, both eyes closed, OR one eye open
and one eye closed! (Scientists think this means the whale shut
down half its brain. The other half stays alert enough to come
up
to take a breath or to notice trouble.)
We
still have many questions and few answers about whale sleep!
|