To compare the circulatory and respiratory systems of human and whale Olympians. The circulatory and respiratory systems of humans and whales are similar in structure, but whales have special physiological adaptations for life in the ocean.
Whales often dive in search for food.
When diving, the heart rate slows and blood is shunted from tissues tolerant of low oxygen levels. The blood then moves towards the heart, lungs, and brain, where oxygen is needed. The muscle of whales has a high content of the oxygen-binding protein myoglobin. Myoglobin stores oxygen and helps prevent muscle oxygen deficiency. Compared to land mammals, baleen whales have up to nine times the concentration of myoglobin.