A Cuvier’s beaked whale stayed underwater for 222 minutes off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina—the longest dive ever documented for any mammal and more than an hour beyond the species’ previous 137.5-minute record.
Data from 23 satellite-linked tags and more than 3,600 presumed foraging dives showed a median feeding dive of about 59 minutes, already far above the earlier 33-minute aerobic dive-limit estimate.
Researchers estimated a higher behavioral aerobic dive limit of 77.7 minutes, but said low metabolism, large oxygen stores and buffering capacity still do not fully explain the two extreme dives of 173 and 222 minutes.
Recovery patterns also challenged expectations: longer dives usually meant longer intervals before the next deep dive, but among the longest 5% of dives that link broke down.
The findings add to evidence that Cuvier’s beaked whales operate at physiological extremes; the species also holds the marine-mammal depth record at 2,992 meters.