How much air does a whale inhale each time it resurfaces?

Question

How much air does a whale inhale each time it resurfaces?

Answer 1

Whales are voluntary breathers meaning they have to consciously breath in and out (it’s not an involuntary reaction like we have). They swim to the surface to draw in air through their blowholes. Whales have limited breathing functions through their mouths. When a whale inhales, it fills up its lungs to capacity each time and then exhales 90% of its air supply with each breath. Humans exhale only 25% of their lung capacity.

Answer 2

enough to breath

Answer 3

Depends on how big the whale is. Obviously a 100 tonne blue whale is going to take in more than a 3 tonne orca.

The deep diving whales like the sperm whales have a different way of breathing, too. They take in many deep breaths in order to super saturate their blood with oxygen so that they can dive for as long as an hour.

Also, after a whale has just surfaced after a dive it will take a large number of shorter breaths – panting, I guess – in order to flush out the carbon dioxide.

Sorry, I know I haven't answered your question in terms of quantity, have I?

Answer 4

Gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) have lungs about the size of VW beetles, and blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) have lungs about the size of medium sized vans, so gray whales can inhale about 500 cubic feet per breath and blue whales about twice that much.