Hello tiktakers!
Did you know that there is a tribe of people capable of diving up to 60 meters under the
sea?
Today we'll be talking about the incredible Bajau Tribe, also known as sea gypsies or
sea nomads.
Most people can hold their breath under water for just a few seconds, and some even for
a few minutes.
However, the people from this famous tribe are capable of holding their breath for almost
13 minutes, as well as diving up to 60 meters under water!
This tribe lives in floating houses and boats located in the sea of the Philippines, Malaysia
and Indonesia.
They are nomads, and visit dry land on occasion.
Armed with spears, they go underwater to hunt their food, as well as look for natural materials
they can use to make crafts.
Melissa Llardo, from the Center of Geogenetics of the University of Copenhagen, directed
a study about the abilities of the Bajau people, and their changes in anatomy which allow them
to dive underwater for so long.
Miss Llardo visited this community in many occasions, and started her research thanks
to the tribe's support.
Miss Llardo used an ultrasound machine to scan the bodies of 59 people from the tribe,
and discovered a mutation in their spleens.
Turns out that the Bajau have a much larger spleen than other humans, which gives them
a better ability to free oxygen in their bloodstream while they dive.
Her work was published in Cell Magazine, and there she explained that the Bajau have a
gene which makes their spleens develop to be larger than the spleens of other human
beings.
They compared the spleens of the Bajau with the spleens of another nearby tribe which
has no aquatic life: The Saluan.
Doing that, they confirmed that the spleens of the Bajau were around 50% larger than normal
spleens.
Miss Llardo's study also compared the divers with the non-divers of the tribe, and confirmed
that all of their spleens were of similar size.
This demonstrated that their spleens were not bigger due to diving, but due to genetics.
The researchers also found in the tribe a gene called PDE10A, which is believed to control
the thyroid hormone.
In mice, this hormone is linked to the size of the spleen.
It isn't clear for how long the Bajau have had this aquatic lifestyle, or when exactly
did their mutation originate.
The information available indicates that the Bajau branched out from the Saluan tribe around
15.000 years ago.
And according to Miss Llardo, that is enough time for the human body to evolve that aquatic
adaptation.
However, in recent years this tribe of sea nomads has been forced to change their way
of life.
They had to change their floating houses and boats for a life on dry land, and had to modernize
several aspects of their life setting aside many of their centuries-old traditions.
The reason for this?
The growing environmental issues in the world.
The oceans are becoming increasingly contaminated, and are experiencing over-fishing as well,
which limits the food resources that the Bajau have access to.
What do you think about this tribe, tiktakers?
It's almost like they come from science-fiction, right?
It's hard to believe that the human body can evolve to adapt to such a lifestyle.
We love discovering people as interesting as the Bajau, so if you know about any other
people with unusual abilities, and you'd like us to make a video about them, please let
us know
in the comments!