Bumblebee Queens Breathe Underwater to Survive Drowning, Revealing How They Can Live Submerged for a Week

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/bumblebee-queens-breathe-underwater-to-survive-drowning-revealing-how-they-can-live-submerged-for-a-week-180988330/

33 points · 3 comments · view on lemmy.world

3 Comments

snoons@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 159d

Weow. That's pretty fuckin' cool.

GreatWhite_Shark_EarthAndBeingsRightsPerson@piefed.social · -1 pts · 158d (1 reply)

How AWESOME is Natural World & Evolution!

It reminds me of home our species' newborns can do the same.

Pika@rekabu.ru · 3 pts · 158d

As far as I know, the mechanisms differ dramatically.

Human babies have a very well-developed diving reflex, not only holding breath automatically, but also reducing the metabolism when submerged, allowing to hold breath for longer. Adults have it all too, they just have other things interfere with the reflex, making an average non-diver perform somewhat worse. Still, the underwater survivability of all humans, including babies, is counted in single-digit minutes at best.

Bees, on the other hand, actually seem to breathe underwater, albeit slowly. They can't sustain themselves when active, but this amount of oxygen keeps them alive when they hibernate (diapause). They can stay like this for 8 days at least.