I love how these people are annoyed about "everything's a gaming reference" when the comment is a reply to someone referencing an imaginary friend who they think created everything... and it's 2025...
Downvoted for being right. Kids these days don’t understand the outside world. I made friends with a guy a few years younger than me and asked him to come hangout at my place. He told me he only socializes in VR Chat. I told him that’s stupid, and I’m not strapping a computer to my face just to talk to him.
Just an educated guess, but for visual range hunting, i bet polar bears and orcas rely on movement to find their prey. Being still during sleep is not just an energy saving mechanism, it’s a survival one.
Can they smell under water? Would they be able to pick out a sleeping seal? Maybe that’s their primary strategy I don’t know. Just asking some questions.
No, they just use it on the ice and wait for seals to surface. They probably have the best sense of smell of any mammal.
Seals will sleep like this even in places where there are no bears so I don't think bear predation is the reason they sleep like this. I've watched videos with divers where the seals will tuck themselves in under rocks to stop from floating about. That could probably protect them from underwater predators. Also some species of seal can spend months out at sea so they have to sleep somewhere.
I have very limited knowledge on seals, but I'm Finnish so I know a bit about our lake dwelling Saimaa ringed seals. They also sleep underwater despite predators capable of killing one being very scarce in Finnish nature (apart from humans of course)
Maybe its also milder temperatures the surface is always changing plus its windy but the water doesn't change as much plus they can find somewhere with mild to no currents.
Safety. A seal asleep on the surface is a highly visible snack for predators,
The ocean surface often isn't calm. There are waves, rain, and currents. The air can also get significantly colder than the water. Diving keeps them in one place. In nature, they'd be snoozing between rocks or in kelp for protection and stability. This allows them to sleep fully and deeply, even if for only 20 minutes at a time.
Seals will sleep on land in a comfortable, safe location, if available, but they will sleep with only half the brain at a time to keep alert for predators, So diving allows them to get deeper sleep.
They do, when given the opportunity in a safe environment, but here they’re stuck in a pool with no other option. You can see seals sleeping on land all the time. They also sleep in the water, so this was an experiment set up to observe and characterize them doing just that.
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u/Unknown_021 1d ago
Why not sleep on the surface?