# Why only one windpipe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2024, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-one-windpipe/1000316 "2024-04-15T12:30:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 17
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2024, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-one-windpipe/1000316/17 "2024-04-16T21:05:02Z")
There was a thread about that: > [@Cetacean anatomy: is respirator tract completely separate from digestive tract?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cetacean-anatomy-is-respirator-tract-completely-separate-from-digestive-tract/791194): > > According to [the Wikipedia article on cetacean blowholes:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowhole_(anatomy)) I’ve always understood this to be the case…until I saw [this video,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgXlFbYxJ7M) which purports to show a dolphin that has choked to death on an octopus. The claim in the video is that the octopus tentacles remain active/motile for some time after it’s “dead,” and that dolphins which do not properly bludgeon an octopus before consumption can find that the tentacles may autonomously slither into their respiratory tract, preventing them from breathing… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-only-one-windpipe/1000316)._