Do marine mammals experience shallow water blackout?

  • I thought it was an interesting topic. The original post:

    Quote

    1) Does SWB exist among mammals that primarily live in water?
    2) If yes, why is it less rare? (This is an assumption based off the simple fact that they are truly water adapted)
    3) If no, and given that we still share somewhat similar adaptations to our water dwelling counterparts, why are we prone to SWB and they are not? Is it simply that we are more likely to push our limits and less in-tune with our physiology?
    4) Are there practices that mammals such as seals, dolphins, whales, and so on, perform that have been translated to human freediving performance increases?

    A good response:

    Quote from growingupninja

    In short, to answer your first question, aquatic mammals do not experience SWB, at least not the same as people. They suffocate and die from lack of O2, unlike people who BO, stop breathing, and then (terminal breath) inhale water and drown. I don't have links to the studies but we know this because human drowning victims always have microbes in their blood stream that comes from water in the lungs--heart was pumping at the time of terminal breath. Aquatic mammals who have been discovered dead from lack of O2 do not have these microbes--their hearts just stopped pumping at some point from lack of O2, although I imagine as they near critically O2 levels their motor control and consciousness would become impaired.

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