Re: [GZG] Biology in a vacuum
From: Indy <indy.kochte@g...>
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 11:31:31 -0500
Subject: Re: [GZG] Biology in a vacuum
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http://lists.csua.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lOn 3/29/06,
Beth.Fulton@csiro.au <Beth.Fulton@csiro.au> wrote:
>
> G'day,
>
> > Don't the deep diving sperm whales have air in
> > their lungs? Their lungs are probably
> > compressible, but they still have air no?
>
> For one Sperm whales don't go to the abyssal depths, they only go down
> 3000m. They also do this by having lungs that are (proportionally)
less
> than half those of terrestrial mammals, but they exchange much more
> [...]
> SO basically whales do it by keeping air pockets to a minimum, which
is
> the way all deep sea creatures do it too. They don't have air filled
> bladders they have oil filled. Less pressure concerns that way, less
> equalisation issues for the degree of vertical movement they may do on
> short time scales.
Why I love this list. You learn some of the best things on here you
might
not elsewhere without a lot of digging. :-)
Mk