How Do Blue Whales Breathe? | Lungs And Oxygen Capacity

The blue whale is currently known to be the largest living animal in the world.

In fact, these large marine mammals rival the size of even the largest known dinosaurs.

Because of their large size, the blue whale requires large amounts of food and oxygen to maintain a healthy existence.

To obtain adequate energy, the blue whale can consume as many as 40 million krill per day, which provides their large bodies with enough nutrients to survive and thrive in the ocean.

Since the blue whale is a mammal, it also requires large amounts of oxygen to breathe.

Unlike fish, blue whales cannot extract oxygen from the water as they do not possess gills.

Blue whales breathe by swimming to the water’s surface and inhaling fresh air into their lungs through their blowhole, which is located on the top of the whale’s head.

Unlike toothed whales born with only one blowhole, the blue whale belongs to the baleen whale species, which possess two blowholes.

When the blue whale rises above the water, it quickly exhales old air and takes in a deep breath before diving back into the ocean.

The water that spouts from the blue whale’s blowhole comes from water collected around the outside of its blowhole and not from water that has been inhaled or swallowed.

These whales have strong sphincter muscles surrounding their blowhole to prevent water from coming in and filling their lungs, which could cause these marine mammals to drown.

During deep dives, the blue whale can hold its breath for up to 90 minutes before resurfacing for air; however, most dives usually last less than 30 minutes.

While a human can absorb around 15% of the oxygen, they inhale the blue whale is believed to be able to absorb as much as 90% of the oxygen it inhales, which makes their deep breaths significantly more useful and adapted to aquatic life than that of human and most other land animals.

Interestingly, unlike most land animals, the blue whale (actually all cetaceans) have separate breathing and eating passages.

In fact, the blue whale can’t breathe through its mouth because the air passage and food passage are completely separate.

One possible reason for this may be preventing the blue whale from accidentally taking water into its lungs when consuming food underwater.

The blue whale can freely consume prey without inhaling water by completely separating the esophagus and lung passages.

Another possible reason is that since the blowhole is located on top of the whale’s head, it is easier for the whale to take in oxygen when at the water’s surface.

This allows the blue whale to breathe without lifting its head completely above the water, and is especially useful during periods of rest.

Lastly, by separating the lung passage and food passage, the whale stands a much lower chance of having its air passage blocked by debris from food or other objects.

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