Researchers have discovered the first evidence that people can genetically adapt to deep diving, as shown by the unusually large spleens in indigenous people of Indonesia known as the “Sea Nomads,” a study said.
The spear-fishing Bajau people regularly free-dive to depths of up to 230 feet (70 meters), with only weights and a wooden mask.
They spend up to 60 percent of their workday diving for fish, spearing octopus and gathering crustaceans, an amount of time rivaled only by sea otters, and can stay underwater up to 13 minutes at a time, said the report in the journal Cell.
Intrigued by this unusual ability, American researcher Melissa Ilardo, then a postdoctoral candidate at the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen =read more
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