In the world there has always been the uncertainty of knowing how do whales breathe? Today we bring you an article where we will explain everything about this topic. Whales are considered one of the largest mammals in the world and, in turn, some of their species are the largest in the marine world. Now we are going to learn about the breathing of these majestic cetaceans.
Where do whales breathe?
The first thing we should know, in addition to the fact that whales have lungs, just like other mammals, is that they breathe through spiracles. Do you know what they are? First of all, you must bear in mind that whales belong to the group of cetaceans and that these in turn, over time, have gone through various changes that have contributed to much easier and more efficient breathing. The first thing that happened was that their nostrils went from being on their faces to being on the tops of their heads.
Due to this adaptation, the nose stopped bearing that name and became a spiracle, this would be the hole where do whales breathe. This change has made the breathing of these animals much easier to carry out, because being in the upper part of their body, they do not need to put too much effort to breathe, since they only have to float on the surface of the water to perform this action.
Unlike other mammals, whales cannot breathe through their mouths, since the respiratory and mouth passages are completely separated, this is extremely beneficial for them since the risk of the water they drink reaching their lungs is eliminated. and drown them. It should be noted that there are types of whales that instead of having a spiracle they have two, these are the baleen whales.
How do whales breathe?
The breathing of whales is usually practically voluntary, this differs from that of other mammals. Which means that in the time that the whale spends on the surface of the sea it is forced to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen quite quickly, this means that, during a whale's respiration, while the oxygen enters carbon dioxide leaves simultaneously. The lungs of the whales, specifically the alveoli, are perfectly adapted to be able to carry out this simultaneous exchange when they breathe.
Many people believe that whales can only expel the air accumulated in their lungs when they are on the surface of the water, but this is not the case, they can also expel them when they are in the water, this is how they create their bubble network where they can catch some fish. The bubbles travel through the water until they reach the top of it. However, the inhalation of oxygen does occur only when the animal is on the surface.
Whales only have one type of respiration, just like all other mammals do, and that is pulmonary respiration. We refer to this when oxygen and carbon dioxide pass through the lungs where the exchange takes place that allows animals to breathe.
Whale breathing process
This whole process begins with the expulsion of carbon dioxide (CO2). While the whale is in the water, it can expel it, it will come out to the surface in the form of bubbles, on the other hand, when the whale exhales out of the water, this process is carried out by releasing a large amount of air and water by middle of the blowhole, creating a spectacle that many enjoy watching. Many call these water expulsions "blowing" but what do they mean by that? We'll see.
When we talk about the blow of the whales, we refer to the sound that it causes when they quickly empty their lungs by exhaling carbon dioxide. This tells us that when we see a whale make its show of expelling air and water through the spiracle, what it is actually doing is removing all the air accumulated in its lungs.
This process can be done so quickly because whales have lungs perfectly adapted for this to happen, even the muscles of their thorax are especially strong and flexible, making everything together have the ability to make lung compression so powerful that they They are almost completely devoid of air. Likewise, it benefits the storage of oxygen for a prolonged period of time which the whales spend in the water and without coming to the surface.
After the whale performs its rapid expulsion of air, it will begin to fill its lungs again, but this time much more slowly, after performing this action its spiracle will close to prevent the escape of oxygen and the entry of water to it, it is at that moment when the whale can submerge itself in the water and begin to swim.
Many believe that the lungs of whales must be extremely large, unlike those of land mammals, but this is not the case, they do not have a larger size, however, if we can affirm that their capacity for expansion and suppression is much larger, this means that they can inspire and aspire much more deeply than other mammals. The time that a whale can hold its breath and the pattern that is created during it, tends to vary depending on the species and the activity that the animal performs.
Whales cannot exceed the depth at which they swim, this is because they run the risk of their lungs collapsing due to the contained pressure, they can dive between 50 and 100 meters deep at most. As the whale dives, the air contained in its alveoli will pass from there into the trachea and bronchi, which have a greater resistance to the pressure of keeping the air accumulated while they dive deeper.
Other adaptations associated with the breathing of whales
We already knew how the adaptation that the whales suffered in their respiratory tract is, now, we are going to know how they have even changed their circulatory systems in a certain way so that the process of changing gases is more feasible and simple. Let's know what they are:
- There is a network of blood vessels that are known as "rete mirabile", this is found in the thorax of whales. The mimes fulfill the function of storing blood full of oxygen in the extremities of the animal, which it uses as a reserve while it is submerged in the sea.
- Mammals have a muscle molecule which is responsible for moving blood in the muscles, it is known as myoglobin. It is between 10 and 30 times higher in cetaceans than in other mammals.
- In addition to this, whales in particular have much larger blood vessels, if a species of whale can last longer underwater, its blood vessels will be larger than the one that spends less time submerged, this is extremely important since they can conserve more O2 center of them.
- Another important variant is that whales have the free ability to supply less blood to minor organs, and only maintain normality in those that are vital, in this way oxygenation is focused especially on those organs that are essential for their survival.
How do whales breathe when they sleep?
One of the greatest curiosities that whales have, like other cetaceans, is that they have a particular way of sleeping which allows them to keep breathing without interrupting their sleep, how is this? Well, it's very simple. Unlike other mammals, whales need to partially come out of the water to breathe, so they cannot sleep soundly, so they have created their own sleep system.
This system is known as "unihemispheric sleep", it consists of only allowing one hemisphere of your brain to sleep or rest while the other remains active, it is like this how do whales and dolphins breathe, even this is also one of the Shark characteristics, because they present this same capacity for rest, in this way they can sleep without sinking, stopping swimming or breathing.
The adaptability of these animals has allowed them to sleep in a special way, since it could be said that whales literally "half sleep", it is in this way that they can rise to the surface to breathe in the given time and in turn stay asleep. A magnificent example that nature is extraordinary and that it can adapt in incredible ways so that different species can survive the changes that occur on Earth.