Sleeping Whales: Photographer Reveals What Whales Look Like When They Snooze

One photographer captured a rare glimpse of what it looks like when whales snooze. In the Indian Ocean, a group of more than 30 adult sperm whales are sleeping at a depth of 15 meters. They stand like this without moving for minutes or hours. All are females, and all the calfs are at the surface while parents are sleeping.



Popular photos have surfaced online showing sperm whales gathered together, seemingly motionless and arranged vertically in the water. The whales, which are roughly the size of school buses, almost always appear to be "standing" and clustered in pods of five or six.