11–20 of 32 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They accelerate upwards and their bubbling metabolism will compensate. If any creatures on the surface die from inhalation of the fart then the whales become awake and feed on them immediately. Slumber resumed. It's like a background clean-up process.
Yup, the old brap n' snap. Everyone who swims around whales knows and fears this.
If these are rainbow bubbles, that conclusively proves the whales had ADHD therapy sessions.
The title of the original article [1] is a lot more clear: Buoyancy regulation through modulation of onboard gas volume by resting sperm whales They don't "blow bubbles" to sleep vertically, they vent gas to regulate their specific gravity. This allows them to sleep vertically below the surface. The scientists measured the gas release by listening for bubbles, but they did a lot more: they actually modeled the buoyan…
When I read this I thought you'd discovered that the whales release the gas in a form other than by blowing bubbles, or that the purpose of doing so was for something other than improved sleep.
But no, the whales literally release air through their blowhole in the form of bubbles, and, at least during study you linked, they do this while resting to maintain their vertical orientation. An orientation, the paper theorises, that enables better sleep by not being buffeted by waves.
They quite literally blow bubbles to achieve restful, vertical sleep.
The title of the original article [1] is a lot more clear: Buoyancy regulation through modulation of onboard gas volume by resting sperm whales They don't "blow bubbles" to sleep vertically, they vent gas to regulate their specific gravity. This allows them to sleep vertically below the surface. The scientists measured the gas release by listening for bubbles, but they did a lot more: they actually modeled the buoyan…
> They don't "blow bubbles" to sleep vertically, they vent gas to regulate their specific gravity. This allows them to sleep vertically When I read this I thought you'd discovered that the whales release the gas in a form other than by blowing bubbles, or that the purpose of doing so was for something other than improved sleep. But no, the whales literally release air through their blowhole in the form of bubbles, an…
Maybe I'm overly fixated on the "to" in "to achieve": the whale doesn't care about the bubbles, they serve no important purpose in helping them sleep, it's just what happens when you vent air under water.
It's also kind of a nitpick, but the scientists refer to resting whales, but specifically state that they don't know if they are sleeping. I guess getting a proper EEG on a sperm whale is another scientific frontier.
Edit: An awesome scientific frontier: honestly if anyone deserves my tax money it's the grad student trying to figure out how to measure brain waves in a submerged oceanic whale.
The title of the original article [1] is a lot more clear: Buoyancy regulation through modulation of onboard gas volume by resting sperm whales They don't "blow bubbles" to sleep vertically, they vent gas to regulate their specific gravity. This allows them to sleep vertically below the surface. The scientists measured the gas release by listening for bubbles, but they did a lot more: they actually modeled the buoyan…
If these are rainbow bubbles, that conclusively proves the whales had ADHD therapy sessions.
What happens if they have an attack of flatulence? But seriously, this must happen sometimes!
The title of the original article [1] is a lot more clear: Buoyancy regulation through modulation of onboard gas volume by resting sperm whales They don't "blow bubbles" to sleep vertically, they vent gas to regulate their specific gravity. This allows them to sleep vertically below the surface. The scientists measured the gas release by listening for bubbles, but they did a lot more: they actually modeled the buoyan…
> They don't "blow bubbles" to sleep vertically, they vent gas to regulate their specific gravity. This allows them to sleep vertically When I read this I thought you'd discovered that the whales release the gas in a form other than by blowing bubbles, or that the purpose of doing so was for something other than improved sleep. But no, the whales literally release air through their blowhole in the form of bubbles, an…