Do whales experience holding their breath the same as us?

Submitted by Meili_Ahlgren t3_zbkfp0 in askscience

I was watching a video on blue whales just now and found out they surface to breathe once every half hour normally and I wondered how it must feel to them to hold their breath for that long. I can hold my breath for only 30 seconds before I start to feel a little uncomfortable.

Do whales have the same system as us that governs that automatic urge to breathe or is breathing and overall more conscious process for them?

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tobi437u t1_iywc883 wrote

No, whales experience holding their breath differently than us. Whales have a different breathing system than humans that allows them to remain underwater for extended periods of time. Whales have evolved a set of physiological adaptations that enable them to hold their breath for long periods of time without feeling the urge to breathe. These adaptations include an enlarged volume of oxygen-rich blood, an increased ability to store oxygen in their muscles, and an increased efficiency of oxygen utilization throughout their body. Additionally, whales have a “conscious control” over their breathing, which allows them to regulate their oxygen uptake and hold their breath for extended periods of time.

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Meili_Ahlgren OP t1_iyxhqmi wrote

Replying to tobi437u (#858,608)

Oh wow, that's cool! Is the urge to breathe in humans instinctual or is there a chemical signal that pushes us to after a certain amount of CO2 builds up in our bodies? If we had the physiological adaptations of a whale (the blood and muscle oxygen storage) would we still experience a push to breathe before we reached an unsafe blood CO2 level or would we be able to go longer because of that increased oxygen retention?

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