Random Thought of the Day

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With no one else on the ballot, supreme leader Kim Jong Un was not only elected to the highest legislative body in North Korea, he won with the unanimous approval of his district, which had 100 per cent turnout.

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A Cuvier's beaked whale has set a new deep diving record for a sea mammal by plunging nearly two miles below the ocean surface.

The creature was one of eight whales studied off the coast of southern California whose movements were tracked by satellite-linked tags.

Scientists recorded a total of 1,100 deep dives averaging 0.87 miles in depth. The deepest was one that descended a distance of almost two miles, and the longest lasted 137 minutes.

The dives broke the current records for sea mammals set by the southern elephant seal of 1.5 miles and 120 minutes.

Two miles down, the water pressure is equal to 320 atmospheres – a crushing 4,707 pounds per square inch.

Lead scientist Dr Gregory Schorr, from the Cascadia Research Collective, a non-profit organisation based in Washington, US, that studies marine mammals, said: "It's remarkable to imagine these social, warm-blooded mammals actively pursuing prey in the darkness at such astounding depths, literally miles away from their most basic physiological need: air."

The new study, published in the online journal 'Public Library of Science ONE', provides a better understanding of the diving behaviour of Cuvier's beaked whales, according to the authors.