Southern elephant sea: it can not breathe for 2 hours while diving deep

Sea elephants have not only an outstanding appearance, but also amazing superpowers. It turns out that these marine mammals are record holders in breath holding and can dive to a considerable depth. Could you do without breathing for two hours? These figures do not even fit into the head, but for sea elephants - this is quite common. How do they do it?

Sea elephants are a genus of large marine mammals that includes only two species: the northern elephant seal and the southern elephant seal. It is noteworthy that only males have a characteristic appearance with a large nose. These two species are largely similar in lifestyle, but differ in the place of distribution. The northern elephant seal lives on the western shores of North America, and its southern cousin - off the coast of Antarctica.

Northern elephant

Southern elephant

It is the southern elephant seal that is outstanding in many respects. It is larger than its northern congener: the weight of males reaches 3-5 tons, although the females are much smaller - only 400-900 kg. These amazing marine mammals are capable of diving to a depth of 1,500 meters, although on average this figure is about 500 meters, which is also impressive. But in order to dive to such a depth, it is necessary to hold your breath. And here, scientists discovered a simply amazing thing: the southern elephant seal can not breathe for two hours and at the same time feel great. Of course, 2 hours is an absolute record, but on average, as observations show, this species of elephant seals dives to a depth of 500 meters.

Such superpowers are due to the structure of the body of southern elephant seals. Sea elephants are inhabitants of the cold seas, and their body is 30-40% fat. This circumstance, according to scientists, allows sea elephants to dive to a considerable depth, where the pressure exceeds 10 atmospheres, because fat under pressure is almost not compressed.

Another physiological feature of marine elephants is the peculiar structure of the nostrils, which open only at the moment of inhalation and exhalation, and when the animal is under water, they are tightly closed. But the most interesting thing in the body of these animals is the structure of the circulatory system.

The heart rate of elephant seals during diving is greatly slowed down. If on land his heart is reduced 60-70 times per minute, while diving to a considerable depth, this figure is only 10-30 beats. At the same time, the consumption of oxygen is reduced, which in the previous amount goes only to the heart and brain. Biologists have also been able to find out that the red blood cells that are responsible for the transport of oxygen in the body in the body of sea elephants are much more than other mammals. These are these amazing animals - southern elephant seals!