Sloths can hold their breath longer than dolphins
Sloths can hold their breath longer than dolphins
25mins longer to be exact.
A while ago we learnt that a sloth can harbour a whole ecosystem in their fur. While they clearly don’t bathe that much (for good reasons!), it doesn’t mean they can’t swim.
Despite their sedentary lifestyles, sloths are surprisingly strong swimmers. When swimming, they can reach speeds of 13.5 metres or 44 ft per minute. To top it off, they can hold their breath longer underwater than dolphins.
Sloths can hold their breath for up to 40mins, while the marine mammals can only hold theirs for 15mins. They more than double the duration of the dolphins.
The reason they out-compete the agile and graceful aquatic mammals, is due to the sloths’ metabolic rate.
Sloths have one of the slowest metabolisms of any mammal. It’s so low that they’re able to slow their heart rate to one-third of its normal rate. Crazy right?
They also have a unique lung structure that allows them to hold their breath longer. Unlike most mammals whose lungs are firmly attached to their ribcage, sloths have loosely attached lungs. The rest of their internal organs are attached to their ribs and hips to prevent their organs from pressing down on their lungs when they hang upside-down.
Plus, they also have extra-large lungs with evolved haemoglobin and myoglobin proteins in their blood and muscles that help store oxygen in their systems.
With the ability to slow down their metabolism and heart rate combined with their unique lung structure; it comes as no surprise that they are better at conserving oxygen than dolphins. This makes them the superior mammal when it comes to breath-holding.
Who knew an animal that comes off lazy, can be so good at something. I guess doing nothing all day would mean you would become good a holding your breath… right?