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Mammals typically cannot breathe underwater without assistance, as they require oxygen to survive, and their respiratory systems are adapted for breathing air. However, some mammals, such as whales, dolphins, and seals, have evolved specialized adaptations that allow them to spend extended periods underwater.
These adaptations include:
Large Oxygen Reserves: Marine mammals have larger lungs and higher concentrations of red blood cells, allowing them to store more oxygen.
Efficient Oxygen Utilization: They can conserve oxygen by reducing their heart rate and redirecting blood flow to essential organs.
Myoglobin: This protein found in muscles helps store oxygen, allowing marine mammals to remain submerged for longer periods.
Blubber: Marine mammals have a layer of insulating blubber that helps them conserve heat and energy while diving.
Ability to Close Air Passages: They can close their blowholes or nostrils to prevent water from entering their respiratory system while submerged.
Specialized Anatomy: Their respiratory systems are adapted to withstand high pressure and low oxygen levels encountered at depth.
Even with these adaptations, marine mammals still need to return to the surface to breathe regularly. They cannot extract oxygen from water as fish do through gills.
What else can I help you with?
Do mammals have gills and can mammals breathe under water?
mammals cant breathe underwater only some of them like a beaver and the family...
Do mammals have gills and can breathe underwater?
No, mammals don't have gills, and can't breathe under water. Mammals have lungs, breathe air and have to hold their breath when diving.
How does dugong breathe in water?
Dugongs are mammals, and mammals CANNOT BREATHE UNDERWATER, but they can hold their breath for a few minutes.
Why can't dolphins breathe underwater?
dolphins are mammals, not fish. They have lungs, not gills, and breathe air.
Are lions mammals or amphibians?
They are mammals. Amphibians are cold-blooded animals that can breathe through gills underwater as well as using lungs on land. Lions are warm-blooded and cannot breathe underwater.
Can dolphins breathe air above water or do they have to breathe under water?
No mammals can breathe underwater. All mammals, including sea mammals, must breathe above the surface of the water. This is why marine mammals such as dolphins and whales frequently come to the surface.
Can a dolphin breath under water?
Dolphins can't breathe underwater because they are mammals. They go to the surface to breathe and then hold their breath while underwater
Why does Sandy wear an astronaut suit?
She wear's it because mammals can't breathe underwater.
Do orcas breathe underwater?
Orcas - killer whales don't Breathe under water. They are mammals and Breathe air with lungs. They hold their breath when diving.
Can narwhals breathe under water?
Narwhals are whales, and whales are considered mammals, and mammals can't breathe underwater. Therfore, a narwhal must breathe air to prevent from drowning, and to do so, they (and all the other kinds of sea mammals) must swim up to the surface every few minutes to breathe air.
Why do dolphins die in nets?
Dolphins are mammals, they Breathe air. If trapped underwater they eventually suffocate or drown.
Do platypuses breathe air or water?
Platypuses breathe air. All mammals, including marine mammals such as whales and dolphins, must breathe air.Platypuses usually hold their breath for one to two minutes while they hunt and feed underwater, and they are capable of staying underwater for up to eight minutes if undisturbed. They must make hundreds of dives every day in order to find enough food, as they cannot live or breathe underwater.
