# Why don't whales get "the bends"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-whales-get-the-bends/113682 "2002-06-12T18:30:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-whales-get-the-bends/113682/21 "2002-06-13T14:02:21Z")
Dive Training magazine devoted gobs of their March 2002 issue to Free Diving. While the article is not on line, in their “No Dumb Questions” section, there is a related question that is answered. A quote from the response is here. > [@](#): > > Although it’s extremely uncommon, free divers can, in fact, get DCS. It has, for example, been documented in Japanese and Korean pearl divers, and others who engage in deep free diving over periods of days or years. Another example are the DCSlike symptoms seen among free divers in Polynesia. There, in the course of studying more than 200 divers, one researcher documented almost 50 cases of what the islanders call taravana, which translates as “fall crazy.” Some have even died from the disorder. Cuban free diving champion Francisco “Pipin” Ferreras maintains that he’s gotten DCS at least twice. > > But let me balance what I’ve said with the fact that it’s highly unlikely for any free diver — aside from perhaps world-class competitors — to ever succumb to DCS. Given the modest depths and times of the average free diver, the amount of nitrogen absorbed is just too little to make any difference. The full response can be found [here](http://www.dtmag.com/03-02-NoDumbQuestions.shtml). Third question down. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Go\_alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_alien)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-whales-get-the-bends/113682/22 "2002-06-13T14:49:03Z")
Whales exhale before diving. Watch a film of one and you see the spray (condensation from warm lungs to cold air) coming out of the blowhole just before they submerge. With no air in the lungs, there is little nitrogen in the blood. What there is doesn’t cause the bends because it’s not under pressure to start with, so it never causes bubbles as the whale surfaces. Oxygen for diving is primarily stored in the muscles in myoglobin and not in the blood in haemoglobin. Whales take a series of breaths to pack the oxygen into the muscles, exhale and down they go. Don’t know about seals/sea lions and other marine mammals. I once watched a TV documentary on North Sea oil rig divers many years ago. They had microphones attached to their chests. As they surfaced from non-decompression dives, you could hear the nitrogen bubbling out of their blood stream into their lungs like opening a can of Coke. Scary stuff for an infrequent amateur diver like me. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Go\_alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_alien)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-whales-get-the-bends/113682/23 "2002-06-13T15:05:36Z")
Just checked the New Scientist archive. The record for human deep diving is 152 meters (over 165 yards in old money) and 7 minutes 35 seconds for breath holding. :eek: Check [here](http://archive.newscientist.com/article/article.jsp?rp=1&id=mg16922844.400) ---
**Author:** ![vertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3ec8ea/32.png) [@vertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertigo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-whales-get-the-bends/113682/24 "2002-06-16T13:13:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by femtosecond \* > \*\*Don’t! Or at least don’t do it alone. _If_ you manage to move some air it will be the same column of already breathed air over and over again, only pushed up and down through the length of the hose. Compared to the hose, your lung volume isn’t big enough to reach a sufficient amount of fresh air. \*\* Unless you breath out your nose… I was wondering about this pressure problem with a hose (I used to be a lifeguard and I admit that I tried this, and can back up that it does not work). My solution was going to be adding a type of bellows with a one-way valve at the bottom of the hose. You would then use this to draw air down the hose and than again to force it into your lungs. Still not sure it would have worked. ---
**Author:** ![femtosecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-whales-get-the-bends/113682/25 "2002-06-16T17:20:48Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by vertigo_ > **Unless you breath out your nose…** But then the sheriff would find you because he saw the bubbles and all that hiding and breathing through a hollow reed was in vain. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-whales-get-the-bends/113682.md?page=1)