The world's deepest diving animals

The 5 deepest diving animals on the planet include mammals, birds, reptiles, and whales, with the greatest depth reaching nearly 3,000 m.

500 m - Emperor Penguin ( Aptenodytes forsteri )

Emperor penguin dives into the water. Photo: David Herraez Calzada

Few species are as agile on land as penguins. Unable to fly, these clumsy birds stride from place to place, seemingly expending a lot of energy for small steps. But they are a different animal in the water. Emperor penguins are not the fastest swimmers, but they can dive deeper and longer than any other bird. They can stay underwater for 27 minutes at depths of up to 500 meters by slowing their heart rate from 70 to 10 beats per minute, according to the University of Bristol.

1,200 m - Leatherback turtle ( Dermochelys coriacea )

The deepest-diving reptile is the leatherback sea turtle. It can dive as deep as 1,200 meters. To find out how, the authors of a 2010 study attached accelerometers to female turtles nesting in the Virgin Islands. They found that they descended down a ramp during the active swimming phase before circling, then slowly re-emerged to avoid decompression sickness. The turtles’ low body temperature may also help them avoid the formation of nitrogen bubbles in their blood vessels.

1,900 m - Whale shark ( Rhincodon typus )

Whale sharks dive deep to feed. Photo: Leith Holtzman

Whale sharks are the deepest-diving fish. These giant filter-feeding fish usually skim closer to the surface. But a study using tags to record the movements of whale sharks found some extremely deep dives, the deepest being 6,200 feet. The researchers hypothesize that whale sharks wander and feed in a layer of water called the deep scatter layer.

2,250 m - Sperm whale ( Physeter macrocephalus )

Sperm whales are frequent visitors to the twilight zone, a murky area lacking light but home to giant squid, their favorite food. Sperm whales are not the deepest-diving whales, but they hold the record for surface-dwelling animals. According to the University of Hawaii, they have evolved special ribs and lungs to concentrate air in a small area, and their heart rate slows down at depths of 7,000 feet (2,250 meters).

2,992 m - Cuvier's beaked whale ( Ziphius cavirostris )

Cuvier's beaked whales are rare because they rarely surface. Photo: Andrea Izzotti

The deepest diving whale is the Cuvier’s beaked whale. This cetacean also set a record for the longest dive in 2020, staying underwater for 3 hours and 43 minutes. According to the Natural History Museum in London, the shutdown of certain organs helps them survive long dives. Cuvier’s beaked whales are reclusive and researchers know very little about them because they spend most of their time underwater.

An Khang (According to IFL Science )

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