Chapter 700: Fishing Net on the Gray Whale
Many people have the perception that whales are experts in diving. They are giant beasts that can dive for hours at a time and swim in the sea hundreds or even thousands of meters deep. They are like the legendary Leviathan and are invincible in the ocean.
This is a misconception.
In terms of diving time, whales are inferior to most animals that are really good at diving. However, because whales are mammals, they are far ahead of a large number of their peers that breathe with lungs and will be drowned in water within a few minutes. Therefore, they have extra points in biological characteristics, which makes their diving ability appear much stronger.
The only points that can be added are points that can be added. Compared with the most common turtles, which can dive for two to three hours, only the gall whales and sperm whales can dive for 120 minutes and 90 minutes respectively. And this is the extreme state. Generally, it is only about 50 minutes. This is already the "diving champion" among whales.
It can be seen that many diving experts can only reach the lower limit when they are in extreme conditions .
Of course, one hour is already quite good, so when the whalers are chasing them, once they see them diving deep, they have to wait for a long time on the spot.
Next are the "diving runners-up" represented by right whales and baleen whales, which can dive for 60 minutes and 40 minutes respectively, but generally need to rest on the sea surface for 5 to 10 minutes for every 10 to 15 minutes of diving.
Next are other whales, with the duration basically less than half an hour. Judging from the types of whales, these species account for the vast majority.
For example, a blue whale consumes 2 to 4 tons of food every day. When feeding, it swims at a speed of 2 to 6 km/h, 5 to 33 km during migration, and a maximum of 20 to 48 km per hour when forced to swim.
Generally, 10 to 20 small dives are followed by a deep dive. The interval between shallow dives is 12 to 20 seconds, and the deep dive can last 10 to 30 minutes.
The blue whale is the norm. The sperm whale can dive two thousand meters deep for an hour. It is the big daddy among whales and the Bolt among humans.
That is why in the Middle Ages humans could row small boats to chase whales and kill them. Otherwise, they could just dive deep for an hour and then swim away. Who could catch them?
Those who can get on a boat and catch a sperm whale are the best of the best, and they are medals of adventure and honor.
Of course, lastly, there are dolphins, which don't dive very deep, usually about 5 minutes, while porpoises can dive up to 23 minutes.
After all, whales are mammals after all, and they breathe with their lungs, not anything else. The length of their diving time all depends on their oxygen utilization.
Ordinary animals can only exchange 10-15% of the gas in each breath. Although the area of whale lungs is not large, they can replace 80-90% of the air in their lungs with one breath, which is more efficient than human deep breathing.
The utilization rate is also higher. When diving, whales can control the oxygen to be supplied only to the brain, heart and swimming muscles, which is very energy-efficient in terms of oxygen consumption.
The vast majority of humans are unable to do this, and only a very small number of world-class breath-holding experts are able to reduce oxygen supply outside the core organs through long-term training.
In addition, whales have a much higher tolerance to carbon dioxide than humans. Many people want to breathe after holding their breath for more than 20 seconds, not because of lack of oxygen, but because of the increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the body. Often at this time, the oxygen concentration in the body is still maintained at the highest concentration of 99 or 98 percent.
Human free divers undergo professional training, one of the most important aspects of which is to improve their tolerance to carbon dioxide. They can hold their breath much longer than untrained people, about three to six times longer than ordinary people.
But no matter how it is used, it is still essentially the lungs.
"Gray whales swim with a breathing pattern of taking a few breaths during shallow dives followed by a longer deep dive."
"The depth of a deep dive is about 100 meters, the underwater distance is about 1,000 meters, and the duration is generally 17 to 18 minutes. Some can only last for 8 minutes at most, and the longest is no more than 50 minutes."
After hearing Bifang's explanation, some people did a quick calculation and conservatively estimated that the straight-line distance to the coast was more than five miles, nearly three kilometers. Based on this data alone, it would be impossible to escape.
Even if a gray whale burst into life and dived for half an hour, it could only swim two kilometers at most, a little more than half that.
[Mr. Fang, can you dig a few more holes? Please help me.]
[Yes, is it okay to dig a hole manually? ]
[In this case, wouldn't it be better to dig one per mile? ]
Bifang nodded: "Of course."
The fans were about to smile, but Bifang nodded and said calmly, "If the entire ice sheet is very thin, no thicker than 30 centimeters, and there are no ice ridges within a few kilometers, I can move forward in a straight line, and the gray whale can fully understand my thoughts and maintain a certain degree of trust in me. At the same time, it is a clairvoyant and can accurately see the ice cave a thousand meters away. I spend two days digging a hole, and it can still be saved."
A basin of cold water poured down on the water friends, and no one expected that there were so many problems here.
Yes, gray whales are not like Bifang who has traveled around the ice field and knows the exact distance to the coast. Why do they stop there?
It was obvious that this was because they could sense that there was no chance for them to breathe, so the timid and cautious gray whales naturally did not dare to move forward and could only shrink here.
Of course, this timid consequence is correct.
The ice layer in all areas of the ice field is not as thin as the ice layer in this ice cave. Looking around, you can even find ice sheets and ice ridges that are tens of meters thick. If you want to go directly to the seaside, you must take a detour.
Gray whales are not "animal icebreakers" like bowhead whales that can directly break through ice more than 60 centimeters thick. Without a hard skull, they will only get their heads broken and bleed.
And judging from the physical strength of Bifang and how long the gray whale can last, the distance between the holes must be at least more than one mile, or 500 meters. Otherwise, the cost of digging the holes will be too high, the physical strength of Bifang will not allow it, and the whale will not be able to last that long.
But at five hundred meters, can the whale follow Bifang when it sees no hope?
These are all problems, which is why Bifang kept circling around the cave and did not take any action. Without solutions to the above problems, successful rescue would be impossible.
[Stop scolding, stop scolding]
[Is there nothing you can do about it? ]
[Ah, this…]
Just when everyone, even Bifang, was at a loss, the cry of a whale attracted Bifang's attention.
He noticed early on that the smallest gray whale was unable to breathe frequently due to lack of physical strength and could only rely on the help of its parents.
The same thing happened this time. The little gray whale breathed with the help of a big gray whale, but the fishing net wrapped around its tail attracted Bifang's attention.
