Elephant seals' CO as high as heavy human smokers'

Kathryn Knight

doi:10.1242/jeb.105551

Abstract

![Figure][1] Two adult male elephant seals. Photo credit: Michael Tift. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a silent killer. Produced by incomplete combustion, the colourless, odourless gas binds to the oxygen carrying protein – haemoglobin – in the blood of smokers and fire victims, insidiously

Highlights

Protect tissues from damaging inflammation when the oxygen returns, Tift says, ‘High Carbon monoxide (CO) values could significantly benefit these animals in reducing the amount of injuries from the natural dive response.’
Sedating animals ranging from young pups to adults, Tift collected blood samples from the elephant seals to measure the proportion of Measuring the relative proportions of the haemoglobin bound with the oxygen, carbon dioxide and CO in the seals’ blood using a blood gas analyser, Tift was amazed to discover that the animals’ carboxyhaemoglobin levels were stratospherically high at 10.4%; ‘They have values similar to humans that smoke up to 40 cigarettes a day’, says Tift
‘If they are at sea, they are constantly diving; if they are on land, they are going into sleep apneas [breath holds]

Summary

INSIDE JEB

Sedating animals ranging from young pups to adults, Tift collected blood samples from the elephant seals to measure the proportion of Measuring the relative proportions of the haemoglobin bound with the oxygen, carbon dioxide and CO in the seals’ blood using a blood gas analyser, Tift was amazed to discover that the animals’ carboxyhaemoglobin levels were stratospherically high at 10.4%; ‘They have values similar to humans that smoke up to 40 cigarettes a day’, says Tift. Tift explains that there is only one way for an animal to clear CO from its body, and that is to exhale it He suspects that elephant seals accumulate an immense reserve of carboxyhaemoglobin because they hold their breath for about 75% of their lives.

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