The Quiz: Which mammal can hold its breath the longest?
Beaked whale
River otter
California sea lion
West African manatee
Beaked whales are a family of around 20 species of medium-sized toothed whales. Because they spend most of their time far from shore or in the deep ocean, very little is known about them. Research using GPS tagging found that the longest deep dive on record was held by a Cuvier’s beaked whale that remained underwater for 222 minutes – nearly four hours. The deepest recorded dive was 9,816 feet or nearly 2 miles.
The correct answer to this quiz is Beaked whale.