The Cuvier’s beaked whale holds the record for the longest breath-holding ability underwater, far surpassing human limits.
Cuvier’s beaked whale. (Photo: R.W. Baird/Cascadia Research Collective)
Based on the longest recorded dive, the title of the animal capable of holding its breath the longest belongs to the Cuvier’s beaked whale. In a five-year study involving 23 members of this species, scientists recorded an individual that dived and held its breath for a total of 3 hours and 42 minutes. In comparison, the human breath-holding record is only 24 minutes and 37 seconds, according to IFL Science. The average dive time for Cuvier’s beaked whales in the study was 59 minutes, with only 5% of observed individuals exceeding 1 hour and 17.7 minutes.
Many other marine animals can hold their breath for longer than that. For example, sperm whales typically spend about 1.5 hours underwater before resurfacing to breathe. Besides whales, elephant seals are also noteworthy, as they can hold their breath for up to two hours while diving.
Part of the reason marine mammals can stay underwater for so long is that their muscles are filled with a protein called myoglobin, which stores oxygen and supplies it to muscle cells. Humans also have myoglobin, but at much lower densities. In humans, too much protein clumping together can cause disease. However, whales, seals, and other marine mammals do not have this issue.
According to a 2012 study, the myoglobin of deep-diving marine mammals carries a positive charge. “Like magnets of the same charge, the proteins repel each other,” explained Dr. Michael Berenbrink from the University of Liverpool. “This way, we believe that animals can have extremely high densities of myoglobin in their muscles without the proteins sticking together and clogging the muscles.”
However, myoglobin may only be part of the explanation. Researchers also suspect that Cuvier’s beaked whales have a low metabolic rate, meaning they do not use up oxygen quickly. When they need to switch to anaerobic respiration, the whales have a better tolerance for lactate (a product of cellular metabolism) accumulation in their muscles.
