How do dolphins sleep?

Question

for a school project, i couldn't find anything on how they sleep.

p.s. thanks 2 all that answered my previous question, all the info helped!

Answer 1

Dolphins are conscious breathers: They have to actively decide when to breathe. Consequently, in order to breathe, they have to be conscious.

So to breath and to sleep, dolphins let one half of the brain sleep at a time. In this way, the animal is never completely unconscious, but it still gets the rest it needs. In their sleep cycle, half of the dolphin's brain does indeed "shut down" while the other half is still active.

They could probably sleep anywhere, but it makes sense that they would do it near the surface of the ocean so they can come up for air easily. It's not uncommon to see dolphins "logging," swimming slowly along the surface, with very little movement. Presumably, these are dolphins at rest.♥

Answer 2

Studies of dolphins have shown that they do not sleep the way we do. When land mammals sleep the whole brain basically shuts down and goes through a series of steps that have been studied extensively by psychologists. Like us, dolphins have two hemispheres in their brain. When dolphins sleep, one hemisphere continues to function while the other sleeps. In fact the sleeping side's eye (which is actually on the other side of the body from that hemisphere) closes during this sleep period. The animal continues to function but simply swims in circles. In Natural History, July 8, 2000, pages 40-41, is a report about how the dolphins as a group handle this
The report is of research done at the University of California at Santa Cruz on Pacific white-sided dolphins. The dolphins swim in a circle so that the open eye faces other dolphins in the circle. The circle is tight and because there is a large group of large animals, no predator is going to make an attack. Once the animals have reached their necessary amount of sleep, the school will break up its cycling as a group and the animals will continue their normal life activities.

Answer 3

One hemisphere of the brain shuts down at a time and the dolphin remains still like a log in the water. when they do this, the opposite eye remains open to watch for predators. They have to keep the other hemisphere awake because breathing for them is not automatic. A lot of them also sleep in groups and when they do this, they put the open eye to the outside to keep a lookout. They will shift what side of the group they are on depending on which hemisphere is asleep.

Answer 4

There's plenty of time for a dolphin to catch a catnap between trips to the ocean surface, of course, but this isn't a viable option. When you're a conscious breather, it's just not feasible to be completely unconscious -- what if you don't wake up in time? The solution for whales and dolphins is to let one half of the brain sleep at a time. In this way, the animal is never completely unconscious, but it still gets the rest it needs.

Answer 5

I believe they only shut down half of their brain to rest. Some sort of defence system. the other half of their brain remains alert to danger.

Answer 6

half of its brain sleep while the other half stays awake

Answer 7

they dont they stay up on the net allnight watching dolphin porn .....actually thats bunk ... look here > http://science.howstuffworks.com/question643.htm < it explains how they sleep

Answer 8

they sleep with one eye open

Answer 9

They lay on a sea BED !

Answer 10

as i know dophins are just like any other fish and they do not sleep.