What If You Were A Whale?

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]What would I need to change about my body to dive as deep as a whale? I mean, we're both mammals. How hard could this be? Turns out insanely hard. As I dive down, I'm running out of air really fast. But our whale friend can go for 2 hours. And that's not just because of their lungs. It's because of their muscles, which can store up to 10 times more oxygen thanks to a special protein.

[00:00:18]But as we go farther, the pressure is increasing by a whole atmosphere every 10 m. Our whale friend is thriving, but my lungs are shrinking. At this point, they're about a fourth of their regular volume. And the buildup of oxygen in there could be forced into my bloodstream at dangerous toxic levels.

[00:00:33]But our whale friend has a clever solution. They actually remove the air from their lungs, letting them collapse.

[00:00:38]But now the pressure is so intense that my chest is squeezing as it fights my rigid rib cage. So I'll borrow the whale's flexible rib cage. Extra cartilage at the connecting points allows their ribs to literally fold in, collapsing with their lungs. The next thing I'm going to need is a giant head.

[00:00:53]A whale's head has an oil in it that we think can turn into a solid, acting like an anchor and helping them dive. Wait for me. All of these adaptations allow some whales to dive over 2,000 m deep.

[00:01:05]But now I see that there's something else lurking in the deep. To find out what you got to subscribe.