Image: Wikimedia Commons

lung

Essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals

Entityorgan type class of anatomical entityQ7886

Also known as lungs · borders of the lung

Instance of: organ type
, class of anatomical entity
Subclass of: animal organ
, organ
, particular anatomical entity
Part of: respiratory system
1
Sources
1.innerbody.com/anatomy/respiratoryRetrieved 2018-02-25
View statement on Wikidata ↗

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart. Their function in the respiratory system is to extract oxygen from the atmosphere and transfer it into the bloodstream, and to release carbon dioxide from the bloodstream into the atmosphere, in a process of gas exchange. Respiration is driven by different muscular systems in different species. Mammals, reptiles and birds use their musculoskeletal systems to support and foster breathing. In early tetrapods, air was driven into the lungs by the pharyngeal muscles via buccal pumping, a mechanism still seen in amphibians. In humans, the primary muscle that drives breathing is the diaphragm. The lungs also provide airflow that makes vocalisation including speech possible.

Overview

All data

83 statements · 20% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Arterial supply: pulmonary artery
Venous drainage: pulmonary vein
Anatomical location: cavity of bony thorax
1
Sources
1.Stated in Anatomy & Physiology: Therapy Basics 4th Edition
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Development of anatomical structure: lung development
Unicode character: 🫁
Has part(s) of the class: pulmonary lobe
Different from: pair of lungs
Studied by: medicine
speech-language pathology
pulmonology

On other databases

56 identifiers linking lung across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

20%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 15, 2026. AIDb refreshes this page daily.

Suggest a fact or correction

Links

Use this data

curl https://aidb.si/api/v1/entities/Q7886

API docs, limits & keys

Cite this page

AIDb. (2026). lung (Q7886). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/lung-Q7886