Cuvier's beaked whales have been recorded diving for more than three hours.
Why this sounds fake
A breath-holding mammal sounds limited by minutes, not by a dive longer than many movies.
A mammal holding its breath for minutes is impressive; hours feels impossible. Cuvier's beaked whales are the outlier. NOAA notes the deepest known dive for the species reached 9,816 feet, and the longest known dive lasted 222 minutes. Earlier published tag records also documented dives near 3,000 meters and over two hours. These are extraordinary records, not what every whale does on every dive. But they show how far mammalian diving can stretch when lungs, blood, muscle oxygen stores, and behavior are all adapted for deep, dark foraging.
Cuvier's beaked whale dives nearly three times as deep as the next deepest entry on this chart.
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