Popular photos have surfaced online showing sperm whales gathered together, seemingly motionless and arranged vertically in the water. The whales, which are roughly the size of school buses, almost always appear to be "standing" and clustered in pods of five or six.

It's pretty weird to imagine how an animal with a size of a school bus looks like when it takes a nap. Well, not anymore! Thanks to the French photographer and diver Stephane Granzotto, we can clearly see how it is like when a whale takes a nap. While diving in the Mediterranean, this photographer successfully took pictures of whales, taking a nap peacefully.

There've been a few photos internet catching sperm whales assembled in units of five or six, apparently unmoving and set in a vertical situation in the water. So when whales are resting they seem as though they are standing. In the photograph, shipped off National Geographic, it was noticed that the whales were dozing for about 60 minutes. Prior to 2008, nobody even realized that whales rest in vertical position. It was at that point, when an investigation about this issue was distributed in a diary, called Current Biology. Also, up until 2017 nobody's even really perceived how these animals look in that position.

Whales in the wild, dive down about 45 feet and sleep up to two hours at a time between breaths. As said before, they sleep in vertical position, in pods of five or six whales. They probably do so, because they want to protect themselves. Whales in captivity are found to be among the least sleepy animals. Researchers believe that whales usually spend seven percent of their day in these vertical positions near the water. Their nap usually lasts for 10 to 15 minutes. When sleeping, they use only half of their brain. This behavior is due to their precaution about predators, maintaining social contact, controlling breathing or it just helps them continue swimming. Sources:nationalgeographic.com.