Although now that I start to think about the anatomy of it, I find the idea of two sets of lungs really difficult to imagine. It's not like there's a second trachea for the horse lungs. Hmm . . .
I would assume the human half would have a larger rib cage to support a larger-than-human set of lungs. The horse half may simply have the vestigial remains of the horse-lungs.
Two hearts would be easier to handle, though may take a little more brain development to synchronize the two. The lower heart could simply act as a "signal booster," particularly when running, to provide the necessary blood to the lower extremities.
Or, it could be that the lungs take up the entire human chest cavity, so the heart resides solely in the horse chest. Doing it that way could allow for both a heart and lungs that are large enough to sustain the creature, even while running.
My guess would be that they have two sets of lungs (and hearts). That's a lot of animal to keep oxygenated. It would also mean that a centaur could gallop at full speed (powered by the horse lungs) while carrying on a normal conversation (powered by human lungs).
Cool (and true!) fact: At the Bronx Zoo we saw an amphibious fish that holds its breath (by keeping water in its mouth) to go on land! A mudskipper, I think.
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It was stomachs I was unclear on.
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Although now that I start to think about the anatomy of it, I find the idea of two sets of lungs really difficult to imagine. It's not like there's a second trachea for the horse lungs. Hmm . . .
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Unless they have a tracheostomy for that?
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Two hearts would be easier to handle, though may take a little more brain development to synchronize the two. The lower heart could simply act as a "signal booster," particularly when running, to provide the necessary blood to the lower extremities.
Or, it could be that the lungs take up the entire human chest cavity, so the heart resides solely in the horse chest. Doing it that way could allow for both a heart and lungs that are large enough to sustain the creature, even while running.
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That said, I wonder how a human face can stuff so much food and air into it to feed it all...
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Cool (and true!) fact: At the Bronx Zoo we saw an amphibious fish that holds its breath (by keeping water in its mouth) to go on land! A mudskipper, I think.
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