Real-Life Avatar? This Tribe Can Hold Their Breath Underwater For 5 Minutes

in the world, people have started learning and assimilating these into their own lives. While every population has its own specific way of doing things, it may come across as strange to others. However, these are the traditional cultures that stand out because of their roots in ancient civilisations.

Bajau People Can Hold Breath Underwater For At Least 5 Minutes

In this article, we will talk about one such civilisation. The Sama-Bajau people are a highly diverse, ethnolinguistic group of nomadic people who live in Southeast Asia. Mostly found in the Philippines, Borneo, Malaysia, eastern Indonesia and Brunei, the Sama-Bajau people or Bajau people are basically a land-dwelling population, but a small fraction also dwells on the boats in the sea and maintains a very close relationship with the water.

They are also known as sea nomads and there’s a reason for it. Bajau people have been deep sea fishermen and pearl divers for several decades now. Due to their unique lifestyle, they possess a special adaptation and have developed the ability to hold their breath underwater for at least five minutes. This feat is very difficult to achieve as even for the best of divers, the maximum is up to 3-4 minutes. However, this comes very naturally for the Bajau.

People have trained their bodies and minds today to adapt to the underwater world from a very young age, enhancing their lung capacity and ability to hold their breath for several minutes. This helps them to dive down to the impressive depths to catch fish and gather other valuable resources from the ocean floor.

More About The Sea Nomads Aka Bajau People

Let’s understand the relationship between the Bajau population and the sea. While their homes are built over water on stilts and boats, it has become the biggest part of the lifestyle. Houseboats are used extensively among the population. Besides, the Bajau people have also developed exceptional skills of freediving that enable them to explore the depths of the ocean with quite ease. As history speaks, the population is deeply intertwined with the sea as their ancestors were once known to be diving nomads who traversed the waters of the Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea, and beyond.

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According to reports, a team of researchers recently examined how these divers are actually able to tolerate such extreme oxygen deprivation. Comparing the Bajau divers with individuals from the nearby island population Salaun, they have found that these two have shared common ancestry but the latter are rarely in the water.