Things they share:
All mammals, land loving and sea dwelling alike, are required to breathe oxygen. Both manatees and elephants acquire oxygen just like us: simple breathing. Air ( containing Oxygen) is pulled into the lungs, where gas exchange occurs. Oxygen is pulled into the blood stream though capillaries in the lungs, while Carbon Dioxide is pushed out of the blood stream and into the lungs. Then the Carbon Dioxide containing air is pushed out of the lungs and the process repeats.
The generic set up of mammalian lungs is pictured on the right:
Air travels in and out from the trachea, and goes into the bronchus, which in turn morphs into the bronchiole. Bronchiole branch out into alveoli. The alveoli are the site of gas exchange. As seen below, Oxygen is pushed into the blood while Carbon Dioxide is pulled out of the blood. |
Once oxygen enters the blood stream it is distributed though out the body. Oxygen containing blood travels to every muscle, tissue, and organ in the body, including the brain. Once in the body, Oxygen's main purpose is energy. In a process called cellular respiration, mammalian bodies turn oxygen and glucose into energy, which powers all the actions of the body.
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