Beaked whale shatters mammal diving limits with 222-minute breath-hold
A 2020 study of Cuvier’s beaked whales logged a 222-minute dive on a single breath, the longest mammal dive on record and far exceeding prior aerobic dive-limit estimates (about 33–78 minutes). Analyzing thousands of dives from 23 tagged whales off Cape Hatteras, researchers found a median around an hour but two extreme dives that pushed the known limits. The findings point to a combination of high oxygen storage, low metabolic rate, and metabolic buffering, yet recovery patterns did not follow a simple rule, leaving the true limits and mechanisms unresolved.
