#elephant seals

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[avillanappears]

have not been able to get over this gif ever since I first saw it

[clairlycreature]

@milkminority @chainsawgirlfriend here are your elephant seals !

[lousydrawingsforgoodpeople]

[antiqueanimals]

Brehm's Tierleben. Written by Alfred Brehm. Illustration by Robert Kretschmer. 1900 edition.

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[graveyardrabbit]

[sitting-on-me-bum]

During monthslong foraging trips at sea, elephant seals average just 2 hours of sleep per day.

Credit: Jessica Kendall-Bar, NMFS 23188

[owlpellet]

happy flat fuck friday

[normal-newt]

Favorite animal of the day is definitely Neil the Seal. (a seal named Neil)

Neil is an elephant seal, and he's freaking huge.

He's been on the news recently for accidentally trapping someone in her house, immediately giving her a great reason to take a day off from work.

Being an elephant seal is hard and it's important for them to be able to rest + relax while they are on land.

People (and pets, like dogs) should stay 20 meters away from seals like Neil, to help keep them safe and happy.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

While they may not look alike, did you know that seals are thought to be most closely related to bears, weasels, and otters? 🦭

📸 1/4: Barking elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, bask in a huge pile on a beach.

(National Geographic Image Collection / Bates Littlehales)

📸 2/4: Seals sleep in a tight group on the beach.

(National Geographic Image Collection / Joseph J. Scherschel)

📸 3/4: A colony of Steller's sea lions (Eumetopias jubata, also called northern sea lions) on a rocky islet in Hecate Strait.

(National Geographic Image Collection / Sam Abell)

📸 4/4: California sea lions, Zalophus californianus, lounge on a rock in British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest.

(National Geographic Image Collection / Anne Farrar)

[drethelin]

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Elephant seals amaze scientists with their ability to sleep 1,200 feet deep under the ocean to avoid predators

Soooo...you can file this under "things I never actually thought about before but it makes sense". The short version is that they essentially take underwater power naps that can last up to about ten minutes. They spiral down deeper into the water as they snooze to avoid predators that tend to stay closer to the surface. This lets them stay safe while getting a bit of shuteye.

They do also sleep on land, up to ten hours a day, so it's not that they don't have any other opportunity to sleep. I do wonder if the increase in human activity on the ocean over the past couple of centuries has affected their land to water sleep ratio, though. It'll be neat to see if more research is done on how elephant seals and other marine mammals sleep and whether we're having an impact on that.

[scooby-doo-exploration]

FROM :  lolo-540054  -  Penguin nap

[charpnatl]

Watch out!

[antiqueanimals]

Illustrated Sketches of Natural History: Consisting of Descriptions and Engravings of Animals. Second Series. 1864.

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