Animals, Memes, and Waves: What are these big guys up to? As it turns out, taking a little nap. 🐋 💤 Photographer Franco Banfi and his team were observing these sperm whales off of the coast of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea when, much to their surprise, the huge creatures abruptly assumed a vertical position and seemed to drift asleep. What's this all about? The behavior was first investigated in 2008, when a team of British and Japanese biologists stumbled upon a group of unresponsive sperm whales hovering beneath the waves. Puzzled, the researchers analyzed data from previously-tagged sperm whales, and discovered that the giants spend around 7% of their day taking ~15-minute naps in this stationary, vertical orientation. The consensus is that these naps might possibly be the only time when sperm whales sleep. Would you like to go diving with these magnificent animals? We would! Photo: Franco Banfi. guffscience science biology marinebiology animalbehavior nature ocean earth education bestoftheday interesting didyouknow nowyouknow caribbean dominica francobanfi naturephotography spermwhale whale animal