Can a hippo breathe under water? Why?

Hippos can't breathe underwater, because hippos are mammals, they breathe with their lungs, and they have to be in direct contact with the air before they can breathe. Hippos can dive, but they don't breathe during that time. They can only dive for 3-5 minutes because they have to come out of the water to breathe when the time is up. When a hippopotamus is in the water, it will stick its head out of the water, or just stick its nostrils out of the water. At this point, they can breathe freely.

Can a hippopotamus breathe under water?

a hippopotamus is a very large mammal.As a mammal, the hippopotamus has a lung structure and breathes with lungs.Therefore, hippos can not breathe underwater, fish use gills to breathe underwater.Some people think that hippos can breathe underwater because they stay in the water for a long time, which is not the case.Hippos can stay submerged for a period of time, at which time they will not breathe in the water.Generally speaking, after 3-5 minutes, they will put their heads out of the water again, and then dive back into the water after breathing.During this period of diving underwater, the hippo is in a state of breathlessness and does not breathe.

Hippos often stay in the water, if they are in shallow water, they may directly put their heads out of the water, when breathing is more convenient, do not have to regularly put their heads out to breathe.When they are in deep water, they may only leave their nostrils out of the water so that they can breathe.This creates the illusion that the hippopotamus is breathing underwater, but in fact the hippopotamus is not breathing underwater.

2. Why can hippos breathe underwater

As mentioned above, hippos breathe with lungs and cannot breathe underwater.They need air to breathe.Hippos can stay in the water for a long time because they stick their heads out of the water, or just their nostrils out of the water, so they can breathe freely.Sometimes the hippopotamus will dive deeper for a while, but they will not breathe even though they are underwater.Generally speaking, they can only last for a few minutes, up to half an hour, after which they must come out of the water to breathe.

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