Breathing in Other Animals: Meaning, and Respiratory Organs

How do other organisms breathe? Do they also have lungs like human beings? There are some animals called amphibians that can survive on land as well as in water. How do they breathe underwater? Every animal has different respiratory organs to breathe. Breathing in Other Animals covers different modes of breathing mechanisms in different animals such as water animals, insects, and much more. To know more interesting facts about Breathing in Other Animals, scroll down the article.

What is Breathing?

Breathing is the process of inhaling oxygen-rich air and exhaling carbon dioxide-rich air with the aid of respiratory organs. Inhalation is the process of bringing oxygen-rich air into the body, and expiration is the process of releasing carbon dioxide-rich air. It is a continual process that occurs at all times and throughout an organism’s existence.

Breathing in Lower Organisms

i. Lower organisms that are unicellular animals, such as Amoeba or Paramecium, exchange gases through their cell surface because they lack specialized breathing organs.

ii. They take oxygen from the surrounding air or water and expel carbon dioxide via diffusion through the plasma membrane.

Fig: Image (a) Amoeba; Image (b) Paramecium

Breathing in Earthworms

i. The earthworm is a kind of terrestrial invertebrate that is reddish-brown in colour.
ii. They are located in the top layer of the soil. These earthworms are considered farmers’ friends and help to increase soil fertility. It feeds on the rotting and dead materials in the soil.
iii. They lack a specific respiratory system. However, because of the wetness in the soil and the mucus in their bodies, they breathe via their damp and slimy skin.
iv. It uses the hemoglobin present in earthworm blood to extract oxygen from the soil’s water.
v. The soil is overly moist during the rainy season, and this clogs the pores in the soil. This causes a lack of oxygen for the earthworms. As a result, they come to the surface for breathing.

Fig: Earthworm

Breathing in Insects

i. In insects such as cockroaches and grasshoppers, gas transmission or gaseous exchange occurs via tracheae, which are fine tubes.
ii. Cockroaches have tiny holes or openings on the sides of their bodies. Similar holes or openings can be seen in other insects as well, and these apertures are known as spiracles.
iii. For gas exchange, insects have a network of air tubes known as tracheae. Oxygen-rich air rushes from the spiracles into the tracheal tubes, where it diffuses throughout the bodily tissue and reaches every cell of the body.
iv. Similarly, carbon dioxide from the cells enters the tracheal tubes and exits from the body via spiracles. These air tubes, known as tracheae, are found solely in insects and no other species.
v. The insects such as mosquitoes, bees, houseflies, wasps, etc., also have spiracles and trachea for the breathing and respiration process.

Fig: Cockroach – Respiratory System

Breathing in Fish

i. Gills are usually used as respiratory organs by the majority of aquatic animals.
ii. The skin’s projections are known as gills. Blood veins in the gills allow for the exchange of breathing gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide).
iii. The gills assist the fish in using oxygen that is dissolved in water. The fish has gills on both sides of its head.
iv. In some fish, the gills are hidden behind gill coverings and are not visible from the outside.
v. The fish breathes by inhaling water through its mouth and exhaling it through its gills.
vi. When water flows over the gills, the gills have structures called lamellae that take up oxygen dissolved in the water by the process of diffusion. As water passes over these thin walls of their gills, the dissolved oxygen moves into the blood and travels to the cells of the fish.
vii. The carbon dioxide generated during breathing is drawn back into the gills by the blood and expelled into the surrounding water.

Fig: Breathing in Fish

viii. Some aquatic animals, such as whales and dolphins, survive in the water yet lack gills. Whales and dolphins breathe in air through their nostrils, which are positioned on the tops of their heads and are known as blowholes. Whales and dolphins come to the surface of the sea to breathe in air from time to time.

Fig: Whale and Blowhole

Breathing in Frogs

i. A frog may live on land as well as in water. As a result, it shows various ways of breathing at various phases of its life cycle. They have a dual respiratory system that allows them to breathe.
ii. They show cutaneous and pulmonary respiration. In cutaneous respiration, the respiration takes place through the moist surface of the outer skin or via slimy wet skin.
iii. Pulmonary respiration is a type of respiration where the adult frogs, like humans, have two pairs of lungs and respire through the lungs.
iv. When they are wet or in water or also during the resting stage, they breathe through their thin and vascularised skin, which is permeable to both water and gases.
v. When they are on land, they take in air by forcing it through their mouth with their nostrils closed.
vi. Frog larvae, often known as tadpoles, live in water and breathe through gills.

Fig: Image (a) Adult Frog; Image (b) Tadpole

Breathing in Birds

i. Birds vary from other vertebrates in that they have smaller lungs and nine air sacs that play an essential role in breathing.
ii. Birds’ lungs do not have the ability to expand since they lack a diaphragm and a pleural cavity. Instead of alveoli, gas exchange occurs between air and blood capillaries in birds.
iii. In terms of respiration, the flight presents a distinct problem. Flying requires a lot of energy. Therefore birds need a lot of oxygen to help their metabolic processes.
iv. Birds have evolved a respiratory system that supplies them with enough oxygen needed to sustain flight. Birds, like mammals, have lungs, which are organs that specialize in gas exchange.
v. During inhalation, oxygenated air diffuses over the surface of the lungs into the circulation, whereas carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the lungs and is ejected during expiration. The mechanisms of breathing differ significantly between birds and mammals.
vi. Birds have air sacs inside their bodies in addition to lungs. Air moves from the posterior air sacs to the lungs and out of the anterior air sacs in a single path. The flow of air is in the opposite direction as the flow of blood and gas exchange occurs much more effectively.
vii. This method of breathing allows birds to receive the necessary oxygen even at greater altitudes where oxygen concentrations are low. This airflow directionality requires two cycles of air intake and exhalation to expel the air from the lungs entirely.

Respiratory Organs and Modes of Breathing in Other Animals

Respiratory organs and the mechanism of breathing is different for different animals. The summary of a few such organisms is given below:

Summary

Breathing is the process through which organisms take in oxygen from the air and expel carbon dioxide. The lungs of the organism are involved in the breathing process. Through this article, we understood that different animals like land and water animals have different modes of breathing mechanisms. Humans cannot survive underwater because we lack gills that allow us to breathe oxygen dissolved in water. We also understood that some unicellular organisms such as Amoeba breathe through their cell surface by diffusion, and some animals like amphibians breathe through their lungs as well as through their gills.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Breathing in Other Animals

Q.1. Which animal can breathe both on land and in water?
Ans: Amphibians can breathe both on land as well as in water.

Q.2. What body parts do different animals use for breathing?
Ans: Different animals use a variety of respiratory organs, including skin, gills, and tracheal systems, to breathe.

Q.3. Which animal has the most efficient respiratory system?
Ans: Birds have the most efficient respiratory system.

Q.4. Which animal has the largest lungs in the world?
Ans: The blue whale is the animal with the biggest lungs on the planet. Its lungs contain a total capacity of more than 1,300 gallons of air.

Q.5. Which animal can live without oxygen?
Ans: The first known multicellular animal that can survive without oxygen is a small parasite called Henneguya salminicola.