Among all marine mammals, beaked whales hold the record for dive time and depth. They can descend to depths of up to three kilometers, surpassing the records of sperm whales, which were long considered the champions.
As for dive time, a record was set in 2014 – 137.5 minutes. However, a recent article published in the Journal of Experimental Biology reported on researchers from Duke University who tracked the movements of 23 beaked whales using special sensors. One of them surprised everyone by diving for a full 3 hours and 42 minutes. Nevertheless, in most cases, these cetaceans spend about an hour underwater before surfacing to breathe air.
On the other hand, the authors of the study note that beaked whales require very little time to rest, and after taking a breath, they can dive again to great depths.
It is clear that beaked whales possess unique abilities to accumulate oxygen and slow down their metabolism to use it effectively.
