Every creature in nature seems to possess superpowers that are unattainable to humans, such as diving, where humans currently dive to a depth of no more than 200 meters without equipment, while in the case of simple equipment, the deepest record was set by Ahmed Gabbur in 2014 at 332 meters.
The ability of human flesh and blood to withstand pressure is extremely limited, but with the help of advanced submersibles, it can dive to a depth of 10,000 meters. In 2012, renowned director James Cameron dived 10,898 meters into the Mariana Trench aboard the submersible Deep Sea Challenger. In May 2019, American Victor Veskovo dived in a submersible to a depth of 10,928 meters in the Mariana Trench. The record for the longest human breath held was set by Dawey Murini, who sank into a transparent cube tank on April 26, 2009, setting a record for the longest personal breath holding at 21 minutes and 29 seconds.
But in nature, mammals that surpass humans in diving ability abound, especially marine mammals, which have survived in the ocean for tens of millions of years and have amazing diving ability. Today, take stock of the top 10 mammals with known diving abilities.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top10, killer whales</h1>
The first to appear is the famous killer whale, which belongs to the genus Cetacean - Toothed Whale - Dolphin Family - Killer Whale, a popular and powerful predator.
Previous studies have suggested that killer whales can dive to depths of 264 meters, but in 2017, killer whales were observed diving below 1,000 meters in the South Atlantic to steal small-scaled canine tooth Antarctic fish on deep-water longlines. It is also a fast dive, and it can quickly dive to a depth of 1087 meters in less than 12 minutes and return to the surface of the sea, and the strength of the killer whale is really amazing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top9, pygmy sperm whale, and small sperm whale</h1>
Let's introduce two animals that sound both familiar and strange, the reason for the familiarity is because they have "sperm whales" in their names, and the strange reason is that most people don't know what these two animals are.
Both pygmy sperm whales and baby sperm whales are cousins of sperm whales, both of which are species of the genus Little Sperm Whale, which is much smaller than sperm whales. The pygmy sperm whale is 2.1-2.7 m long and weighs 135–275 kg. The baby sperm whale is slightly larger, 2.6-3.4 meters long and weighs only half a ton. Little research has been done on these two animals, but it is estimated that they can dive to a depth of 1200 meters. Their lungs only account for 15% of the volume of the chest cavity, while the capillary network of the lungs is particularly developed, accounting for 9% of the volume of the chest cavity, that is to say, the capillary network accounts for more than half of the volume of the lungs, which can quickly squeeze out the air in the lungs and avoid water pressure injuries to the chest cavity.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top8, North Bottle Snout Whale</h1>
The Northern Bottlenose Whale is a member of the beaked whale family, distributed in the North Atlantic Ocean, with a known body length of nearly 10 meters and a weight of more than 7.5 tons, making it the third largest known species of beaked cetacean.
The northern bottle nose whale muscle contains a large amount of myoglobin, which can increase the muscle oxygen storage capacity to 0.085l/kg, which is more than four times that of humans. The Northern Bottlenovator is known to be able to dive to a depth of 1453 meters and stay underwater for 84-120 minutes. The Northern Bottle Nose Whale exhales almost all of the air in its lungs before diving, reducing lung capacity to less than 1% of its original capacity to prevent decompression sickness.
Beaked whales are the most mysterious family of cetaceans and the most capable mammals, mostly feeding on cephalopods, so they have evolved super diving ability, and then other beaked cetaceans will appear on the list.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top7, a dime whale</h1>
A horned whale, also known as a narwhal, is a "unicorn in the sea", and its "long horn" is not a horn, but its teeth. Moreover, the horned whale and the beluga whale are very closely related, and both belong to the same horned whale family.
Current records show that a horned whale is capable of diving to a depth of 1500 meters and holding breaths for 25 minutes, while the beluga whale has a recorded dive of 872 meters.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top6, Brinell's beaked whale</h1>
This was followed by a member of the beaked whale family, also known as the Beaked Whale of the Beaked Whale, a genus of beaked whales in the beaked whale family. The Brinell-beaked whale has the highest bone density known among vertebrates, with adjustable ribs that allow it to dive at a much higher speed.
The blood oxygen concentration of the Brinell beaked whale can reach 0.31 l/kg, so the Brinell beaked whale can use less than 60 minutes of breath-holding time to set a diving record of 1559 meters.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top5, northern elephant seal</h1>
The cetaceans introduced earlier are all cetaceans, and this time there is a pinniped, the northern elephant seal is the second largest pinniped, after its southern brother the southern elephant seal. Female northern elephant seals and males have different feeding habits and abilities, with males preferring to forage on the continental shelf, while females prefer to dive into deep water to prey on cephalopods, and squids make up 58% of the food of female northern elephant seals.
The female northern elephant seal has a huge spleen, its blood accounts for 20% of its body weight, and the abundant oxygen reserves in the blood allow it to dive to a depth of 1735 meters, more than most cetaceans.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top4, Bayberry beaked whale</h1>
Another member of the beaked whale family, the beaked whale belongs to the largest genus of mallet whales in the beaked whale family, and the beaked whale is the largest known beaked whale species. The largest males found to be about 12 meters long and weigh more than 10 tons, while females are up to 12.8 meters long and weigh more than 12 tons. From this point of view, the Beaked Whale may be the second largest toothed whale after the sperm whale.
Its large size makes its body very capable of storing oxygen, and the Beaked Whale can dive to a depth of 1777 meters, and the longest breathing time is unknown, which is estimated to be much longer than the Brinell Beaked Whale.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top3, sperm whale</h1>
Sperm whales are the most famous divers, and many people still consider it a mammal diving champion today. On the one hand, it is too famous, and on the other hand, its appearance resembles a submarine. Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales and the largest extant predators, with the largest known individual being 20.7 m and 83.5 tonnes, but it is estimated that the largest sperm whale can grow up to 24 m and 120 tonnes.
The secret to sperm whale diving is its superior blood and muscle oxygen storage capacity, highly resilient bones, and minimal oxygen consumption. Sperm whales can replace 85% of the air in their bodies with a single breath, and their wide tail fin allows them to dive 320 meters in a minute. Sperm whales also use continuous short dives to prevent diving disease. The current more accurate diving record for sperm whales is 2250 meters deep and 126 minutes of breath holding time, but there are still unofficial records of 3000 meters and 138 minutes.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top2, southern elephant seal</h1>
The northern elephant seal mentioned earlier, now it is the turn of its southern brother the southern elephant seal, the appearance of these two animals is not much different, the main difference is in the distribution area and body size, the southern elephant seal is distributed in the Antarctic sea, the size is larger than the northern elephant seal, is the largest remaining pinniped animal.
Like the northern elephant seal, the southern elephant seal is a female with greater diving ability than a male. It is known that the maximum diving depth of female southern elephant seals is 2388 meters, and the maximum breath holding time is 64 minutes, why can they use such a short breath holding time to dive so deeply? More research is needed to uncover the secrets of southern elephant seal diving.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Top1, Coriac's beaked whale</h1>
Today's "king of mammal diving" is the little-known Koch's beaked whale, which is undoubtedly also of the beaked cetacean family.
In 2014, in the Gulf of California, a Coria-beaked whale dived to a depth of 2,992 meters, holding its breath for 137.5 minutes, brushing the mammal diving record to an unsurpassable altitude.
The Whale of the Beaked Hornet evolved itself into a deep diving machine in nature, basically all the body structure is for deep diving, the limit blood oxygen concentration is 0.33 l/kg, which is 2.1 times that of humans, and the blood accounts for 18% of the body weight; the limit muscle oxygen concentration is 0.13 l/kg, which is 5.3 times that of humans. Koch's beaked whales have a super high tolerance for decompression disease, and Koch's beaked whales are always fighting decompression disease. A 2006 study showed that The Kerrell's Beaked Whale can rely on special vascular structures and the release of nitric oxide to prevent the formation of bubbles in the body. This allows them to withstand 30% higher nitrogen partial pressure than other beaked whales without decompression sickness. In short, it is a sentence: "The king of mammal diving" is well deserved.
Summarize the animals above. It can be seen that except for the southern elephant seal and the northern elephant seal, the rest of the list are cetaceans, and the beaked whale family occupies 4 seats. In fact, the beaked whale species are generally very strong in diving ability, but they are too little studied, otherwise the beaked whale family may dominate the list.
After all, mammals are thermostatic animals that breathe by the lungs, and the difficulty of diving is too great, while fish and arthropods have the advantage of body structure, and their diving ability is much ahead of mammals.
A lionfish was found at a depth of 8178 meters in the Mariana Trench, with a body length of only 10 cm, which is the largest known survival depth. At a depth of 10,917 meters at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, a hook shrimp was salvaged, which is the deepest known animal for human beings.