Entrants in the fourth annual BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition, put on by the California Academy of Sciences, were invited to “celebrate and illustrate the rich diversity of life on Earth, and inspire action to protect and conserve it through the power of imagery.” These images originally appeared in the online magazine bioGraphic, and they were kind enough to share some of the winners and finalists selected from nearly 6,000 entries. bioGraphic is the official media sponsor for the competition. The captions were written by the photographers and contest organizers, and lightly edited for style.
Synchronized Sleepers, Human/Nature Finalist. Photographer Franco Banfi and his fellow divers were following this pod of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Caribbean Sea near the Commonwealth of Dominica, when the giants suddenly seemed to fall into a vertical slumber. This phenomenon was first studied in 2008, when a team of biologists from the UK and Japan inadvertently drifted into a group of non-responsive sperm whales floating just below the surface. Baffled by the behavior, the scientists analyzed data from tagged whales and discovered that these massive marine mammals spend about 7 percent of their time taking short (6- to 24-minute) rests in this shallow vertical position. Scientists think these brief naps may, in fact, be the only time the whales sleep.
(Franco Banfi / BigPicture Photography Competition)
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/06/winners-of-the-bigpicture-natural-world-photography-competition/531825/
