How long can dolphins stay under the water? Polar bears are strong swimmers and are known to dive underwater as part of a strategy to sneak up and try to catch seals when they are hauled out on an ice floe. Marine mammals like seals, dolphins and whales can stay underwater for long periods of time, even more than an hour, while humans can only do so for a few minutes at most. The Bottlenose whales and Sperm whales can stay underwater for almost 2 hours on long dives. The average dolphin species can stay underwater for as long as eight to 10 minutes; some can remain submerged while holding their breath for 15 minutes. How Long Do Dolphins Live? Few dolphins in the wild die of old age. How Long Can a Dolphin Hold Its Breath? Wild dolphins usually live for between 25 to 30 years, while dolphins in captivity live to be around 40 years old on average. How the sperm whale can hold its breath for 90 minutes Biologists have unravelled why deep diving mammals such as sperm whales can hold their breath for … Most of the large whales, like the Blue whale and the Fin whales, rarely stay down longer than 40 minutes while large dolphins such as the Bottlenose dolphin usually stay down for less than 15 minutes. On average, whales can dive up to 2,000 meters in the ocean and stay there for about 2 hours. On average, a common bottlenose dolphin can hold its breath for 5 - 7 minutes. If you know the answer to this question, please register to join our limited beta program and start the conversation right now! Sea lions can dive to … The whale that can hold its breath the longest, however, is the Curved Beak Whale, who can take long dives underwater for about 138 minutes! Write. Dolphins can stay up to 15 minutes underwater. The average dolphin species can stay underwater for as long as eight to 10 minutes; some can remain submerged while holding their breath for 15 minutes. Compare this to dolphins who can also hold their breath underwater, but for a much shorter time period, around 3-5 minutes. An average dolphin can hold its breath underwater for eight to ten minutes. "There are ethnic groups around the world who have relied on diving to get food. Maybe you'd like to stay underwater for a length of time to outsmart others in a pool game or you’d just like to get a different perspective on the world around you. How does a dolphin sleep? about5 to 20 mints sum can stay longer than other and shorter than others ok thats how long. Unlike dolphins, sea lions exhale before diving. Terms in this set (20) How deep can Bottlenose Dolphins swim? Unanswered Questions. While it is dangerous to hold your breath for too long underwater, you can stay underwater easily with thorough preparation. Spell. Because dolphins are mammals, they need to breathe air, just like humans. Wiki User December 10, 2011 5:19PM. Each time a dolphin breathes in, the dolphin exchanges 80% of 90% of the air in their lungs. Test. Some of these humans can stay underwater for a very long time," he said. How can dolphins stay underwater? Credit: Matthew Baya/CC-BY-SA 2.0. This is one of the most frequent questions I am asked, but good opportunities to observe underwater dives for wild polar bears are rare. At night, when they are inactive, many pet turtles sleep underwater, surfacing only a few times to grab several quick breaths. Unfortunately the answer is no, whales are unable to breathe underwater. Bottlenose Dolphins can swim up to 260 m. below the surface of the ocean. How long can a polar bear stay underwater? Dolphins breathe through their blowhole on the top of their head. Dolphins breathe through their blowhole, which has a muscular flap that covers it when they go under water, keeping water out of their lungs. Because they are air-breathing mammals living in the water, dolphins cannot sleep the way that you and I can. Each time humans breathe in, we exchange about 10% of the air in our lungs. The longest ever recorded dive by a whale was made by a Cuvier's beaked whale. Despite their inability to breathe underwater, these animals have an amazing ability to hold their breath for a long time. Dolphins can survive out of water for several hours if they are kept wet and in an appropriate temperature, but just how long can they stay underwater until they need to breathe again?