Penguins Safely Lower Oxygen to "Blackout" Levels


	Penguins Safely Lower Oxygen to "Blackout" Levels

wildcat

12-10-2007 6:23 AM

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tags:

penguins, blood, oxygen, biology

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/e6bd862c-9146-48a2-8223-9055f71cdbc7/6004306A-F000-48EE-BB60-0082A3327C42/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071207-penguins-dive.html" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071207-penguins-dive.html" style="font-size: 11px;">news.nationalgeographic.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071207-penguins-dive.html"><P class="intro">
<A href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/emperor-penguin.html">Emperor penguins</A> may have a supercharged form of a blood protein that allows them to dive underwater for more than 20 minutes on a single breath, a new study suggests.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071207-penguins-dive.html"><P>
The research showed that penguins in <A href="http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/continents/continent_antarctica.html">Antarctica</A> return from long fishing excursions under the sea ice with the lowest blood oxygen levels ever recorded in wild animals.
								</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071207-penguins-dive.html"><P>
With such depleted reserves, experts say, other creatures would black out and suffer tissue damage. 
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071207-penguins-dive.html"><P>
The finding suggests that emperors—the largest of all penguin species—may have a hyped-up version of hemoglobin, the blood protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071207-penguins-dive.html"><P>
Other species are unable to use all the oxygen in their lungs—even when starved for air—because their hemoglobin cannot efficiently bind with and carry oxygen in low concentrations.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071207-penguins-dive.html"><P>
But penguin hemoglobin appears to be extra-sensitive, scooping up the last remaining oxygen in the birds' air sacs and delivering it to vital organs.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071207-penguins-dive.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/news.nationalgeographic.com/img/18099994-639F-4E11-881F-1D93BC24C711" alt="Diving emperor penguins picture" /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/6004306A-F000-48EE-BB60-0082A3327C42/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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