Don’t know about you but as a diver I have always wanted to know what animal could dive to the deepest depths and rise to the surface so I have put together a quick list of different animals and the depths they can dive to. Fascinating stuff! I have also added us in as a benchmark.
39 Meters – Free Diver Pearl divers of the central Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia dive without external air supply. They can dive to depths of more than 39 meters where they collect oysters for up to two minutes. | |
200 Meters – Emporer Penguin Emporer penguins dive deeper than any other bird. They hold their breath when they dive and how long they hold their breath depends on how deep they dive and how fast they move. | |
318 Meters – SCUBA Diver In June 2005 Nuno Gomes set the World’s Deepest open circuit SCUBA record; independently verified by Guinness World Records. It took Gomes about 20 minutes to reach 318m, and 12 hours to surface. | |
535 Meters – Bottlenose Dolphin Bottlenose dolphins usually do not need to dive deep to catch their food however they are capable of diving. Under experimental conditions one bottlenose dolphin dove to 535 meters. | |
647 Meters – Beluga Whale Beluga whales are able to swim both forwards and backwards (something few whales can do). Under experimental conditions a trained beluga whale dove to a depth of 647 meters. | |
2388 Meters – Southern Elephant Seal Southern elephant seals live in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters and are the largest of all seals. The deepest dive recorded by an elephant seal is 2388 meters. | |
3000 Meters – Sperm Whale Sperm whales are one of the deepest diving mammals in the world. They dive in search of squid to eat and are believed to be bale to dive up to 3000 meters in depth to the ocean floor. |