Bajau Mutation: From Ordinary People to Deep Sea Divers
The Bajau people are an ethnic group that live mainly in the Zamboanga Peninsula and the Jolo Islands in the southwestern Philippines. It is said that the Bajau can survive in water up to 60 to 70 meters deep for up to 13 minutes.
A normal human can hold their breath underwater for two to three minutes, but for a Bajau three minutes is essentially zero.
The Bajau people are a race of people with a strange mutation that allows them to swim freely at depths of 60-70 meters for 13 minutes, and this ability has allowed them to greatly develop their blood spleen. This is the result of a study published in the scientific journal "Cell" in collaboration with scientists from the University of Copenhagen, the University of California, and the University of Cambridge. The Bajau are fondly known by the nickname "sea nomads". For over 1000 years, they have traveled the coasts of Southeast Asia in parafitos ("floating houses"), always hunting with spears and consuming resources from the sea for food.
They don't do this competitively, so their maximum underwater endurance is entirely unknown, but one tribal member assured researcher Melissa Iraldo that she could stay underwater for 13 minutes straight. Iraldo told The Atlantic that she had dived with an islander named Pai Bayub, who showed her just how easy it was to dive underwater.
But how can they stay submerged for such long periods of time?
When we hold our breath, our body automatically responds with a circulatory system response that slows our heart rate and constricts our blood vessels and spleen. This is a defense mechanism to conserve energy in the face of limited oxygen. It was previously speculated that the spleen plays an important role in allowing humans to freely immerse themselves in water for long periods of time. However, no research had been conducted from a genetic perspective on the relationship between spleen size and diving ability.
After several visits, Iraldo scanned the bodies of 59 Bajaus with an ultrasound machine and found that their "spleens" were 50 percent larger than those of their non-aquatic neighbors, the Sullans.
When the spleen shrinks, it expels red blood cells into the blood, helping to increase oxygen levels. It's estimated that this response can increase oxygen levels by up to 9%, allowing the animal to remain submerged in water for longer. This genetic adaptation leads to increased thyroid hormones, which in turn increases the size of the spleen. In a study of lab mice, genetically altering them to remove the hormone thyroxine reduced the size of their spleens.
This is the first time that genetic adaptations to diving have been identified in humans.
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