A Cuvier's Beaked Whale's Diving record of three hours and 42 minutes astounded researchers and marked the incident as the longest dive not only for the whales but for all mammals.
Researchers from Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C recorded a recent beaked whale's dive, which broke the previous record of more than two hours or 137 minutes in 2014 before coming up for air.
Cuvier's Beaked Whales Diving Records
Cuvier Beaked Whales are known to dive at depths reaching 3000 meters, and scientists have suggested that these animals remain submerged for about 33 minutes before their oxygen runs out.
However, previous records show that the whale is capable of holding its breath longer than expected. In 2014, a Cuvier Beaked Whale was recorded to have remained in the water without getting up for air for more than two hours.
The diving record sparked the researcher's interest as they wondered how often and how long these whales remain in the depths before coming out for air.
The research team studied the elusive animals off Cape Hatteras in the USA. Over five years, the study team deployed 23 tags and recorded 3680 dives.
Initial calculations based on the oxygen stores and diving time limits suggests that the whales should last for only about 30 minutes before running out of oxygen and reverting to anaerobic respiration mode. However, the study findings indicate that while most of the whale's dives lasted for about an hour, 5 percent exceeded beyond 78 minutes.
The finding surprised the researchers as it suggests that Cuvier's beaked whale could remain submerged for 77.7 minutes before it goes to its anaerobic respiration mode. According to Nicola Quick, one of the researchers, a beaked whale has the ability to go far beyond predictions of their diving limits.
The researchers also expected that the whales would spend more time at the surface to recover from the long dives, but interestingly, the team did not see a clear pattern.
The team was also incredibly surprised of the two dives in 2017 that broke all the diving records: the one dive which lasted for 3 hours long, and the longest, which was three hours and 42 minutes.
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The Reason Behind Long Diving Record
The researchers speculate that the whale's diving records' resilience may be attributed to the animal's low metabolism, more extensive than usual oxygen stores, and a high tolerance for painful lactic acid build-up in their muscles when it resorts to anaerobic metabolism mode.
Fear from predators may have also caused the long dive. Cuvier's beaked whales are vulnerable to killer whales and more massive sharks and react to threats by staying underwater for long until the predators move away.
Another factor may be linked to exposure to the US Navy active sonar signal, which happened 24 days before the diving record. The Cuvier's beaked whales are sensitive to sonar, and experts believe this may have impacted the dive.
The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology on September 23.
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