RESPIRATION OF TETRAPODS 



Table 9 

 Diving times of vertebrates 



61 



Table 10 



Oxygen stores of some vertebrate divers. The most important 



store for each animal is underlined 



very high oxygen-carrying capacity (29-3 vols. %). Whales have 

 muscles with a very high myoglobin content, as is appreciated 

 from the red colour of their flesh. Birds and reptiles appear to 

 take nearly all their oxygen beneath the surface in the lungs and 

 air sacs. From the total oxygen stores present in the animal 

 before it submerges, and a knowledge of the metabolic rate, it is 

 possible to calculate the time for which the store is adequate. 

 Scholander did this for the seal and, assuming a metabolic rate 

 the same as when resting at the surface, he obtained values of 

 between 5 and 7 minutes. In the case of the bottle-nose whale 15 



