Have you ever slept with half of your mind awake? If yes then you might consider it a disease or sleeping disorder. But this phenomenon is normal in dolphins.
They sleep with half of their mind activated. While sleeping, one half of their mind is in deep sleep and the other one remains active. The main reason behind this approach is breathing.
This type of sleeping phenomenon is known as Unihemispheric sleep. Where an organism goes into sleep with a partial mind. Unihemispheric sleep doesn’t exist in humans. In addition to dolphins, few other animals also follow this kind of sleeping pattern.
Dolphins and Breathing
Dolphins find it difficult to breathe underwater. Therefore, they have to reach the water surface, every time they want to inhale oxygen.
Then after every inhale they have the capacity to hold breath for around 8 to 10minutes on average. This time frame varies from species to species. This unique mechanism of dolphins makes them a species of animals who follow the pattern of Unihemispheric sleep.
Along with breathing assistance, Unihemispheric sleep has a number of other advantages. Which makes the lifecycle of dolphins much easier and ensures them a quality life underwater. Along with their mind, dolphins use to keep one eye open too.
In a nutshell when a dolphin sleeps, half of its body is at rest while the other half is active.
The watchdog
We all refer to media, whenever we use the term watchdog. But dolphins have defined the territory for media to work. They have bound media to act as a watchdog at ground level. Because underwater they perform this task themselves.
Along with their unique mechanism of sleep, they possess the energy of staying active for more than two weeks. The capability of staying active and observing the environment for continuous 15 days was not just observed but experimented back in 2012.
Dolphins in Numbers
Around 6,00,000 Dolphins exist worldwide to monitor underwater affairs continuously. These Dolphins should be considered as more than half a million cameras fixed underwater for surveillance. Southern California hosts the maximum number of dolphins all over the globe. These unique creatures are different in size.
The biggest dolphins ever exist is Orca which can be as long as 30 feet. The smallest one is Maui. Which is just 5 feet in size.
You must be wondering about which kind of dolphin you have seen during your last trip to the water park? That one is Bottlenose Dolphin. It is the most common species of dolphin. Because of its characteristic of adaptability, it can be kept easily in water parks.
Two Stomachs
Just like the unique sleeping system, Dolphins have two stomachs too. One works as a storage for food, while the other is for digestion. Their weight ranges from 9 pounds to 11 tons which is more than 900kgs. Dolphins can swim up to the maximum pace of 54 miles per hour. Because if they swim faster than this, it hurts.
Want to see dolphins?
Florida is the best site to watch and meet dolphins. There are a number of beaches in Florida, where you can find amazing species of dolphins. So, what are you waiting for? Go There! and share your amazing experience of meeting dolphins, with politigory in the comment section.
Politigory provides in-depth reviews of science, history, humanities, religion, social sciences and arts 
