EXHAUSTED parents struggling to deal with a sleepless newborn should spare a thought for dolphin and killer whale mums. Their babies are awake continuously for the first month of their lives, so mum has to stay up too.
Jerome Siegel of the University of California at Los Angeles and his team spotted the surprising “sleeping” patterns in captive killer whales (Orcinus orca) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates). Unlike all animals studied before, which maximise rest and sleep after birth to optimise growth and development, the cetaceans went without shut-eye (Nature, vol 435, p 1177). “The idea that sleep…
