[ELI5] How can sea mammals sleep without suffocating under water?
In: Biology
Various strategies. Some never really sleep but rest parts of their brain while they remain awake and mobile. Some species can rise, breathe and sink again without waking up.
Some can hold their breath for considerable amounts of time and sleep in 20-minute spurts only to wake up, rise, breathe and if necessary sink back and nap again.
And some simply stay at the surface while they’re sleeping. Sea otters for instance just float on their back while they sleep. And they tend to hold hands so they don’t drift away from each other.
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