Sleepless newborn whales could be an eye-opener for us

But researchers have found that newborn bottlenose dolphins and killer whales do just the opposite -- they stay awake and are active virtually 24 hours a day for the first month of life. Their moms manage with only a little more shuteye than the newborns.

The behavior, reported today in the journal Nature, is at odds with the rest of the mammal family and upsets conventional wisdom that lots of sleep is critical to childhood development.

"Somehow, these seafaring mammals have found a way to cope with sleep deprivation, facilitating rather than hindering a crucial phase of development for their offspring," said Dr. Jerome Siegel, a neuroscientist at the University of California-Los Angeles and head of neurobiology research at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

All other mammals previously studied sleep and rest the most right after birth and gradually decrease their sleep requirements to adult levels as they grow up. Earlier studies of sleep deprivation have shown that not sleeping can be fatal for newborn rats and flies.

Siegel himself reported just last month that the eight hours or so of rapid-eye-movement sleep (out of about 16 hours total sleep a day) seem to be vital in fostering connections and development in the brains of infants, as well as to the well-being of adults.

But after observing two adult female killer whales and their calves at Shamu Stadium at Sea World-San Diego and four dolphins and their calves at Gelendgick Dolphinarium and the Utrish Marine Mammal Research Station on the Black Sea for up to five months, the researchers concluded that the newborns were dozing off for no more than 30 seconds at a time, and dolphin mothers were even more wakeful than the calves. Orca moms seemed to snooze a tad bit more than their babies.

Siegel, who studies animals to better understand human sleep disorders and the biological functions of sleep for the brain and other parts of the body, said it seems the whales and dolphins have evolved some alternative to sleep in the first months of life.

"Their bodies have found a way to cope, offering evidence that sleep isn't necessary for development and raising the question of whether humans and other mammals have untapped physiological potential for coping without sleep."

Because the military has a strong interest in anything that might allow people to remain alert longer without sleeping, the project was supported in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, as well as the VA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Utrish Dolphinarium.

Siegel and his colleagues point out that not sleeping and remaining active and responsive after birth has several survival advantages for baby whales and dolphins: By staying wakeful and moving, they're less susceptible to predators, the activity helps maintain body temperature until they add body mass and blubber, it allows for frequent respiration at the surface, and it facilitates rapid growth of the brain and body and trains the infants to be able to track and stay close to their mothers.