Sperm whale is the world's largest dented mammal (blue whale is the largest but toothless) A record sperm whale up to 20.7 meters long was captured by Soviet whaling ships in the Pacific Islands in 1950, at the beginning of the whaling ship activity, there was a larger than it, but almost impossible to verify, just hearsay, we talk about sperm whale, because it is not only huge, but also the diving champion of the animal kingdom, the record whale diving to the bottom of the sea is 1133.98 meters, which was created by a 14-meter male sperm whale, which is based on historical data, after scientists' calculations, whales at this depth The pressure on its body surface can reach about 118/square centimeter, and scientists calculate that this is far from the maximum depth it can withstand, why can sperm whales dive into such deep waters without themselves being unscathed.
We all know that the ancestors of whales lived on land, and later changed to the sea due to environmental changes, and people living on land, whether you can swim or not, diving into the water is quite dangerous, first of all, breathing this level, humans can only dive in the water for a few minutes, and then longer, they will suffocate, if you carry diving equipment, there is oxygen to feed, you can solve the problem of breathing, but there is also a pressure problem of water pressure, in the water, every 10 meters diving, you can increase an atmospheric pressure, in the depth of 1000 meters , the pressure can reach 101 atmospheres, such a large pressure, even the air oil barrel will be flattened, let alone humans, in addition, people can not breathe oxygen dissolved in the water, divers by inhaling the oxygen of the gas.
When we climb the mountain, climbing to the top of the mountain sometimes feels difficult to breathe, is because the pressure decreases, the volume of the air becomes larger, becomes thin, the pressure rises, the air volume will be compressed, it will become thicker, due to the increase in the density of high-pressure air, people inhale the same amount of compressed air, oxygen and nitrogen will increase several times, and inhale excessive nitrogen, so that nitrogen narcosis occurs, its symptoms are like drunkenness, inhalation of excessive oxygen, it will cause oxygen poisoning, therefore, deep sea diving can not use high-pressure air, Instead, a pressurized gas mixture must be used. When people are diving deeply, they can carry mixed gases, so what to do when whales dive, why whales and other sea beasts can freely dive tens of meters, hundreds, thousands of meters at a time.
Sea otters can dive 70 meters, some dolphins can reach 300 meters, Antarctic seals can dive to 400 meters, fin whales can reach 500 meters, sperm whales can reach more than a thousand meters, and according to scientists, this is far from its limit, is there anything special about their body structure, sperm whales are mammalian animals with lung breathing, must constantly surface to breathe, dolphins and seals are small, generally breathe once a minute, and sperm whale breathing is very special, It takes a deep breath after a continuous short breath, inhales a full breath, can dive for up to tens of minutes, sperm whales can dive for about 1 hour, the pressure in the depths of the sea is very large, why can the whale withstand it, and for so long.
It turns out that the cavity in the sperm whale's body, such as the chest cavity, abdominal cavity, etc., the internal pressure is equal to the pressure of the sea water under the body, so it is not afraid of the high pressure of the deep sea. Its trachea is divided into many chambers, forming a "valve system", when inhaling, the air enters the high-pressure area from the low pressure to the high-pressure area through the "valve" in turn, and when exhaling, the air is transferred from the high-pressure area to the low-pressure area, when diving, although its chest is under great pressure, but due to the existence of the "valve system", the air in the lungs will not be pressed into the trachea, so it can protect the high pressure of the lungs, it can be seen that the pressure in its body can be adjusted.
The sperm whale's blood is stored in many parts of the body, and it also has "valves" inside its blood vessels. This ensures the circulation of blood in deep water, as it goes deep into the deep sea, the sperm whale's chest is compressed, the gas exchange in the lungs will stop, interestingly, the oxygen in the sperm whale does not reduce a certain amount, it will not have breathing requirements, which ensures that it can dive in the deep sea for a long time, can reach 1 hour, dive to a depth of more than a thousand meters, become a well-deserved diving champion.