The Bajau people spend most of their lives underwater. Here’s how they stay alive. The Bajau people are thought to number one million, and even though they don’t have a citizenship, they live in the southern Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
They live on houseboats and move from place to place by waterways in South East Asia. They rarely step foot on dry land.
They live on houseboats and move from place to place by waterways in South East Asia. They rarely step foot on dry land.
Their spleens are long.
One difference is that the Saluans, who live near the Bajau, have spleens that are half as big as those of the Bajau.
Spleens are not necessary for life, but they do help the immune system and filter the blood by getting rid of damaged red blood cells and recycling iron. But what’s most important is that the spleen stores some blood.
When mammals are in water, their spleens shrink, which spreads the oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. When a swimmer’s spleen is bigger, they can get more oxygen.
They have diaphragms that are longer
For them to be able to live underwater, their diaphragms have to stretch, and the walls of their lungs and abdomens have to become more flexible, too.
They have a change in their genes.
A mutant gene is also in them. The PDE10A gene and the BDKRB2 gene are only found in the Bajau. Their closest neighbors, the Saluans, who don’t live on the water, don’t have these genes.
The vital organs get more blood than the legs.
Because of the mutant gene, peripheral vasoconstriction is a response to diving. The Bajau have a unique genetic makeup that may help them tighten parts of their circulatory system that aren’t as important.
This means that more blood is sent to important organs like the heart, lungs, and brain, which lets the diver stay underwater longer, and less blood is used in parts like the legs. It’s incredible to see how a person’s body changes to fit its surroundings.
The bajau people of Indonesia spend 60% of their day underwater.
They have evolved extra large spleens that act as a warehouse for oxygen-carrying red blood cells. pic.twitter.com/SWXqxM1epn
— Dr Ola Brown, MFR (@NaijaFlyingDr) July 21, 2022