6 ms·

tldr bird respiratory system is very effective, they breathe in one end of their lungs and out the other, always with either a full breath in their lungs or two

tldr bird respiratory system is very effective, they breathe in one end of their lungs and out the other, always with either a full breath in their lungs or two breaths in their air sacs (one fresh, one ready to be exhaled) http://www.lslbo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bird-lungs.jpg http://www.lslbo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bird-lungs.j...

dorfsmay 5y ago
are birds able to take advantage of air speed when flying to get higher air pressure in their lungs?
- smegcicle 5y ago
  'pushing the envelope' is actually a term from the bird-racing nerds community for packing those things while staying aerodynamic
- Johnythree 5y ago
  Apparently swans (and similar) birds have long necks to provide a constant amount of re-breathed air (eg a built-in inefficiency threshold). Because their lungs are tied to their flight muscles, they would overbreath at cruising speed. So the long necks provide just the right amount of re-breathed CO2 to offset this. (I hope I have this correct)
- KineticLensman 5y ago
  Some falcons have nostrils that are designed to slow down the air flow so that they can continue to breathe while diving at very high speeds. Even though they exercise hard to catch their prey they aren’t winded as a result. Unlike say cheetahs that are completely out of breath at the end of a chase and have to breathe for a bit before they can eat..
Mountain_Skies 5y ago
We already have artificial continuous flow hearts, next up: continuous flow lungs.
- plantain 5y ago
  Some people have (kinda) learnt to - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_breathing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_breathing
  - red369 5y ago
    Is this 'just' continuously blowing out from air stored in cheeks, while breathing as normal through the nose? I have said 'just', but it doesn't seem easy! It doesn't seem to me that the lungs are being used differently (to normal breathing). I could be wrong. (Edited to add text in parenthesis in 3rd sentence)
    - ratmice 5y ago
      Yes, take a glass of water and fill your mouth, pretend to be a fountain spitting a stream of water, and breath through your nose. That is how I was tought to learn it anyways.
  - gerdesj 5y ago
    That's very different. Birds have a full lung load of air stored in sacs and bones and that fills the lungs as the stale air is expelled. Mammal: Inhale -> burn -> exhale Bird: Inhale -> burn -> inhale -> exhale I think I've over simplified the bird method but basically they inhale and exhale at the same time as required. They literally have double ended lungs, you push air in at one end and exhale CO2 at the other end. We mammals use the same route in and out of our lungs and the whole thing is driven by our diaphragm which pumps the bottom of our pleural cavity. The bird mechanism is obviously efficient for oxygenation but it must have a cost that our body plan discarded or at least failed to even consider many millennia ago.
    - SkittyDog 5y ago
      > ... it must have a cost that our body plan discarded ... Our body plan didn't discard this mechanism, any more than it discarded wings or beans. We never had any of those features in our ancestry, because mammals aren't descended from birds. Our most recent common ancestor is much, much earlier than bird ancestors began evolving any mechanisms related to flight or high-altitude breathing.

dorfsmay 5y ago

are birds able to take advantage of air speed when flying to get higher air pressure in their lungs?

smegcicle 5y ago
'pushing the envelope' is actually a term from the bird-racing nerds community for packing those things while staying aerodynamic
Johnythree 5y ago
Apparently swans (and similar) birds have long necks to provide a constant amount of re-breathed air (eg a built-in inefficiency threshold). Because their lungs are tied to their flight muscles, they would overbreath at cruising speed. So the long necks provide just the right amount of re-breathed CO2 to offset this. (I hope I have this correct)
KineticLensman 5y ago
Some falcons have nostrils that are designed to slow down the air flow so that they can continue to breathe while diving at very high speeds. Even though they exercise hard to catch their prey they aren’t winded as a result. Unlike say cheetahs that are completely out of breath at the end of a chase and have to breathe for a bit before they can eat..

Mountain_Skies 5y ago

We already have artificial continuous flow hearts, next up: continuous flow lungs.

plantain 5y ago
Some people have (kinda) learnt to - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_breathing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_breathing
- red369 5y ago
  Is this 'just' continuously blowing out from air stored in cheeks, while breathing as normal through the nose? I have said 'just', but it doesn't seem easy! It doesn't seem to me that the lungs are being used differently (to normal breathing). I could be wrong. (Edited to add text in parenthesis in 3rd sentence)
  - ratmice 5y ago
    Yes, take a glass of water and fill your mouth, pretend to be a fountain spitting a stream of water, and breath through your nose. That is how I was tought to learn it anyways.
- gerdesj 5y ago
  That's very different. Birds have a full lung load of air stored in sacs and bones and that fills the lungs as the stale air is expelled. Mammal: Inhale -> burn -> exhale Bird: Inhale -> burn -> inhale -> exhale I think I've over simplified the bird method but basically they inhale and exhale at the same time as required. They literally have double ended lungs, you push air in at one end and exhale CO2 at the other end. We mammals use the same route in and out of our lungs and the whole thing is driven by our diaphragm which pumps the bottom of our pleural cavity. The bird mechanism is obviously efficient for oxygenation but it must have a cost that our body plan discarded or at least failed to even consider many millennia ago.
  - SkittyDog 5y ago
    > ... it must have a cost that our body plan discarded ... Our body plan didn't discard this mechanism, any more than it discarded wings or beans. We never had any of those features in our ancestry, because mammals aren't descended from birds. Our most recent common ancestor is much, much earlier than bird ancestors began evolving any mechanisms related to flight or high-altitude breathing.