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.

There've been some photographs online capturing sperm whales gathered in pods of five or six, seemingly motionless and placed in a vertical position in the water. So when whales are sleeping they look like they are standing. In the photo, sent to National Geographic, it was noted that the whales were sleeping for about an hour. Before 2008, no one even knew that whales sleep in vertical position. It was then, when a study about this issue was published in a journal, called Current Biology. And up until 2017 no one's even actually seen how these creatures look in that position.