How Penguins & Seals Survive Deep Dives. HALIFAX, CANADA—Colorless, odorless, and potentially lethal, carbon monoxide is … The researchers are not sure why elephant seals naturally produce higher levels of carbon monoxide, but suspect it may have something to do with the animal's prolific diving abilities. Elephant seals are specially outfitted to hunt in this environment where it is deep, cold and dark. Killer gas aids elephant seals’ deep dives. Smaller numbers of female elephant seals feed in coastal regions, pursuing bottom-dwelling prey along the continental shelf, or in other areas outside of the boundary zone such as around seamounts. This allows them to store additional oxygen. DEEP DIVING How Do They Do It? Like all seals, elephant seals undergo a set of physiological changes when they dive – called the dive response or dive reflex. Blubber, big eyes with keen vision that can sense flashes of bioluminescence in darkness, and many other adaptations make their lifestyle possible. By Elizabeth Pennisi Nov. 1, 2017 , 10:59 AM. Southern elephant seals can dive from 400 to 1,000 meters (1,300 to 3,300 feet) for up to 20 minutes at time. The deepest recorded dive doubled that average, reaching a little over 2,100 meters (6,890 feet) deep. They can hold their breath for more than 100 minutes – longer than any other noncetacean mammal. Southern elephant seal diving abilities. Elephant seals are a deep-diving success because their bodies hold an abnormally large volume of blood. This article will look at … These reactions serve to protect the animal from excessive heat loss and to maximize the survival time without breathing. Elephant seals differ from humans in that when they dive, they carry all the oxygen they need in their blood rather than their lungs. The deep-diving elephant seals do not follow this surface feature, but continue to target the deep boundary zone between the two gyres. DEEP DIVING How Do They Do It? Researchers have discovered the secret to how champion divers like sperm whales can dive for an hour or more. Elephant seals migrate in search of food, spending months at sea and often diving deep to forage. Before diving, elephant seals exhale; collapsing their lungs so there is little air to be compressed. Elephant seals spend up to 80% of their lives in the ocean. They also have increased levels of myoglobin, allowing them to store oxygen in their muscles, a larger percentage of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, and exceptionally thick blubber to protect them from the cold at depth. As they dive, outside pressure compresses the air in their bodies. It includes a significant drop in heart rate, constriction of blood vessels in the periphery, and cessation of breathing. Elephant seals dive to 1,550 m (5,090 ft) beneath the ocean's surface (the deepest recorded dive of an elephant seal is 2,388 m (7,835 ft) by a southern elephant seal, while the record for the northern elephant seal is 1,735 m (5,692 ft)). The elephant seal is a truly champion diver, going to depths as great as 5788 feet, staying under for periods up to two hours and diving repeatedly over periods of months with only brief breathing periods on the surface. Elephant Seals, the Champion Divers of the Deep These ponderous pinnipeds continually set new records for diving to crushing depths; researchers are hard at work to discover just how they do it They return to their rookeries in winter to breed and give birth. The elephant seal is a truly champion diver, going to depths as great as 5788 feet, staying under for periods up to two hours and diving repeatedly over periods of months with only brief breathing periods Sperm whales routinely dive between 500m and 1000m, Weddell seals go to 600m, and elephant seals can hold their breath for two hours. The figure below show the change in heart … ... elephant seals, ... Science reports that diving mammals—including whales, seals… ... Emperor penguins can dive for almost 30 minutes on a single breath, and the record dive of a northern elephant seal is almost two hours!