Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Northern elephant seals sleep in the deep to avoid predators
The elephant seal, a large sea mammal, has two species, the northern and southern. The northern elephant seals swim off the coast of California and the southern seals dwell in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters. They eat squid, and fish, including small sharks and rays, and could grow as heavy as five tons and as large as six meters. They spend 80% of their lives in the ocean and usually dive under 300 to 600 meters deep for about 20 to 60 minutes, but they can hold their breath for 100 minutes or longer and dive as deep as 1,000 meters deep. Recently, a new study of Northern elephant seals found that they sleep hundreds of meters below the surface for about 20 minutes at a time. When the time comes to breathe, they wake up and swim up to the surface. But why do they sleep in such deep water? Researchers believe that they can sleep safely at such depths where their predators, killer whales and great white sharks, don’t dare to come down to attack them. Though elephant seals are no longer an endangered species and are safe from their predators in the deep ocean, they are still threatened by human activities, including marine debris, fishing, and boat collisions.
Enjoy reading the article about this unique giant sea mammal species.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65338500
Northern elephant seals sleep in the deep to avoid predators
The elephant seal, a large sea mammal, has two species, the northern and southern. The northern elephant seals swim off the coast of California and the southern seals dwell in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters. They eat squid, and fish, including small sharks and rays, and could grow as heavy as five tons and as large as six meters. They spend 80% of their lives in the ocean and usually dive under 300 to 600 meters deep for about 20 to 60 minutes, but they can hold their breath for 100 minutes or longer and dive as deep as 1,000 meters deep. Recently, a new study of Northern elephant seals found that they sleep hundreds of meters below the surface for about 20 minutes at a time. When the time comes to breathe, they wake up and swim up to the surface. But why do they sleep in such deep water? Researchers believe that they can sleep safely at such depths where their predators, killer whales and great white sharks, don’t dare to come down to attack them. Though elephant seals are no longer an endangered species and are safe from their predators in the deep ocean, they are still threatened by human activities, including marine debris, fishing, and boat collisions.
Enjoy reading the article about this unique giant sea mammal species.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65338500
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