Animals with lung breathing

Content

• What happens in lung breathing in animals
• Phases of lung breathing
• What are lungs?
• Aquatic animals with lung breathing
• lung breathing fish
• Lung-breathing amphibians
• Aquatic turtles with lung breathing
• Marine mammals with lung breathing
• Lung breathing land animals
• Reptiles with lung breathing
• Birds with lung breathing
• Lung breathing terrestrial mammals
• Invertebrate animals with lung breathing
• Arthropods with lung breathing
• Molluscs with lung breathing
• Echinoderms with lung breathing
• Animals with lung and gill breathing
• Other animals with lung breathing

Breathing is a necessary process for all animals. Through it, they absorb the oxygen necessary for the body to carry out vital functions, and expel excess carbon dioxide from the body. However, different groups of animals have developed different mechanisms to perform this activity. For example, there are animals that can breathe through their skin, gills or lungs.

In this PeritoAnimal article, we tell you what the lung-breathing animals and how they do it. Good reading!

What happens in lung breathing in animals

Pulmonary breathing is that performed by the lungs. It is the form of breathing that humans and other mammals use. In addition to them, there are other groups of animals that breathe through their lungs. Birds, reptiles and most amphibians also use this type of breathing. There are even fish that breathe through their lungs!

Phases of lung breathing

Lung breathing usually has two phases:

• Inhalation: the first, called inhalation, in which air enters the lungs from the outside, which can occur through the mouth or nasal cavities.
• Exhalation: the second phase, called exhalation, in which air and debris are expelled from the lung to the outside.

In the lungs there are alveoli, which are very narrow tubes that have a unicellular wall that allows the passage from oxygen to blood. When air enters, the lungs swell and gas exchange takes place in the alveoli. In this way, oxygen enters the blood and is distributed to all organs and tissues in the body, and carbon dioxide leaves the lungs, which is later released into the atmosphere when the lungs relax.

What are lungs?

But what exactly is a lung? The lungs are the body's invaginations that contain the medium from which oxygen is to be obtained. It is on the surface of the lungs that gas exchange takes place. The lungs are usually pairs and perform bidirectional breathing: air enters and exits through the same tube. Depending on the type of animal and its characteristics, the lungs vary in shape and size and may have other associated functions.

Now, it's easy to imagine this type of breathing in humans and other mammals, but did you know that there are other groups of animals that breathe through their lungs? Are you curious to know what they are? Keep reading to find out!

Aquatic animals with lung breathing

Aquatic animals generally obtain oxygen through gas exchange with water. They can do this in a variety of ways, including through cutaneous breathing (through the skin) and branchial breathing. However, as air has much more oxygen than water, many aquatic animals have developed the lung breathing as a complementary way of getting oxygen from the atmosphere.

In addition to being a more efficient way of getting oxygen, in aquatic animals the lungs also help them. floating.

lung breathing fish

Although it seems strange, there are cases of fish that breathe using their lungs, such as the following:

• Bichir-de-cuvier (Polypterus senegalus)
• Marble lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus)
• Piramboia (Lepidosiren paradox)
• Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri)
• African lungfish (Protopterus annectens)

Lung-breathing amphibians

Most amphibians, as we'll see later, spend a part of their life with gill breathing and then develop lung breathing. Some examples of amphibians who breathe through their lungs are:

• Common Toad (Owl spinosus)
• Iberian tree frog (hyla molleri)
• Tree Frog (Phyllomedusa sauvagii)
• Fire salamander (salamander salamander)
• Cecilia (grandisonia sechellensis)

Aquatic turtles with lung breathing

Other lung animals that have adapted to the aquatic environment are sea turtles. Like all other reptiles, turtles, both terrestrial and marine, breathe through their lungs. However, sea turtles can also carry out gas exchange through the skin breathing; in this way, they can utilize the oxygen in the water. Some examples of aquatic turtles that breathe through their lungs are:

• Common sea turtle (caretta caretta)
• Green turtle (Chelonia mydas)
• Leather turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
• Red-eared turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans)
• Pig nose turtle (Carettochelys insculpta)

Although lung breathing is the main form of oxygen uptake, thanks to this alternative form of breathing, sea turtles can hibernate at the bottom of the sea, spending weeks without surfacing!

Marine mammals with lung breathing

In other cases, the condition of lung breathing predates life in water. This is the case of cetaceans (whales and dolphins), which, although they only use lung respiration, have developed adaptations to aquatic life. These animals have nasal cavities (called spiracles) located in the upper part of the skull, through which they generate the entry and exit of air to and from the lungs without having to completely emerge on the surface. Some cases of marine mammals that breathe through their lungs are:

• Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
• Orca (orcinus orca)
• Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis)
• Manatee (Trichechus manatus)
• Gray Seal (Halicherus grypus)
• Southern Elephant Seal (leonine mirounga)

Lung breathing land animals

All terrestrial vertebrate animals breathe through their lungs. However, each group has different evolutionary adaptations according to its own characteristics. In birds, for example, the lungs are associated with air sacs, which they use as fresh air reserves to make breathing more effective and also to make the body lighter for flight.

In addition, in these animals, the internal air transport is also associated with vocalizations. In the case of snakes and some lizards, due to the size and shape of the body, one of the lungs is usually very small or even disappears.

Reptiles with lung breathing

• Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis)
• Boa constrictor (good constrictor)
• American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)
• Giant Galapagos Tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra)
• Horseshoe Snake (Hippocrepis hemorrhoids)
• Basilisk (Basiliscus Basiliscus)

Birds with lung breathing

• House sparrow (passenger domesticus)
• Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri)
• Red-necked hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)
• Ostrich (Struthio camelus)
• Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans)

Lung breathing terrestrial mammals

• dwarf weasel (mustela nivalis)
• Human being (homo sapiens)
• Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
• Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
• Mouse (Mus musculus)

Invertebrate animals with lung breathing

Within invertebrate animals that breathe through their lungs, the following are found:

Arthropods with lung breathing

In arthropods, breathing usually occurs through the tracheolae, which are branches of the trachea. However, arachnids (spiders and scorpions) have also developed a lung breathing system that they perform through structures called a leafy lungs.

These structures are formed by a large cavity called the atrium, which contains lamellae (where gas exchange takes place) and intermediate air spaces, organized as in the sheets of a book. The atrium opens to the outside through a hole called a spiracle.

To better understand this type of arthropod respiration, we recommend consulting this other PeritoAnimal article on tracheal respiration in animals.

Molluscs with lung breathing

In molluscs there is also a large body cavity. It is called the mantle cavity and, in aquatic molluscs, it has gills that absorb oxygen from the incoming water. in the molluscs of the group Pulmonata(snails and land slugs), this cavity does not have gills, but it is highly vascularized and functions like a lung, absorbing the oxygen contained in the air that enters from the outside through a pore called a pneumostoma.

In this other PeritoAnimal article on types of molluscs - characteristics and examples, you will find more examples of molluscs that breathe through their lungs.

Echinoderms with lung breathing

When it comes to lung breathing, the animals in the group Holothuroidea (sea ​​cucumbers) may be one of the most interesting. These invertebrate and aquatic animals have developed a form of lung breathing that, instead of using air, use water. They have structures called "respiratory trees" that function like aquatic lungs.

Respiratory trees are highly branched tubes that connect to the external environment through the cloaca. They are called lungs because they are invaginations and have a bidirectional flow. Water enters and exits through the same place: the sewer. This happens thanks to the contractions of the cloaca. Gas exchange takes place on the surface of respiratory trees using oxygen from the water.

Animals with lung and gill breathing

Many of the lung-breathing aquatic animals also have other types of complementary breathing, such as cutaneous breathing and gill breathing.

Among the animals with lung and gill breathing are the amphibians, who spend the first phase of their life (larval stage) in water, where they breathe through their gills. However, most amphibians lose their gills when they reach adulthood (terrestrial stage) and begin to breathe lung and skin.

some fish they also breathe through their gills in early life and, in adulthood, they breathe through their lungs and gills. However, other fish have mandatory lung breathing in adulthood, as is the case of species of the genera Polypterus, Protopterus and Lepidosiren, who can drown if they do not have access to the surface.

If you want to expand your knowledge and complete all the information provided in this article about animals that breathe through their lungs, you can consult this other article by PeritoAnimal about animals that breathe through their skin.

Other animals with lung breathing

Other animals with lung breathing are:

• Wolf (kennels lupus)
• Dog (Canis lupus familiaris)
• cat (Felis catus)
• Lynx (Lynx)
• Leopard (panthera pardus)
• Tiger (tiger panther)
• Lion (panthera leo)
• Puma (Puma concolor)
• Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
• Hare (Lepus europaeus)
• Ferret (Mustela putorius bore)
• skunk (Mephitidae)
• Canary (Serinus canaria)
• Eagle Owl (vulture vulture)
• Barn Owl (Tyto alba)
• Flying Squirrel (genus Pteromyini)
• Marsupial mole (Notoryctes typhlops)
• llama (glam mud)
• Alpaca (Vicugna pacos)
• Gazelle (genre Gazella)
• Polar Bear (Ursus Maritimus)
• Narwhal (Monodon monoceros)
• Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
• Cockatoo (family Cockatoo)
• Chimney Swallow (Hirundo rustic)
• Peregrine Falcon (falco peregrinus)
• Blackbird (turdus merula)
• Wild turkey (Lathami alecture)
• Robin's (erithacus rubecula)
• Coral snake (family elapidae)
• Marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus)
• Dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis)

And now that you know all about animals that breathe through their lungs, don't miss the following video about one of them, which we present 10 fun facts about dolphins:

If you want to read more articles similar to Animals with lung breathing, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.