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Ocean Wild Things

5 fun breathing facts about marine mammals

March 8, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

Photo credit: Bobbie Hedges

Photo credit: Bobbie Hedges

1. Marine mammals use 75% of their total lung capacity when breathing, while humans only use 10 to 15%.

2. To increase the amount of oxygen in their lungs compared to carbon dioxide, marine mammals intentionally hyperventilate.

3. Sea otters have lungs that are three times the average size for animals with similar body mass.

4. Whales and dolphins are voluntary breathers, meaning they have to remember to breath. This is very different from land mammals that breath automatically as involuntary breathers.

5. Bottlennose dolphins breath in and out within a third of a second!

Filed Under: Marine mammals Tagged With: dolphin, sea otter, whale

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