Avian respiration - by Alithographica Art
Alithographica Art - April 13, 2018 ·
Science Fact Friday: Bird lungs! Just like every other part of a bird, they're weird.
This gif shows the path of a single breath, but the circuit holds 2 breaths at a time.
So when the bird inhales, the just-inhaled breath goes through Inhalation 1 while the previous breath goes through Inhalation 2.
Rinse, repeat. Thus, the lungs are constantly receiving oxygen - in mammals, our oxygen content dips slightly between inhalations because there's no fresh air coming in. We also don't empty 100% of our lung volume so some air is "stale" even during an inhalation.
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