Rare Whales Can Live to Nearly 200, Eye Tissue Reveals

I have just watched the amazing Ocean Giants documentary about whales etc.( watch the episode here) www.bbc.co.uk... In this fantastic film they explained how the Bowhead whales of the Arctic can live to over 200 years old . Here is a clip from tonight's program So i did a little research and found this article news.nationalgeographic.com... It would seem that this is true with whales fairly recently being found with stone harpoons imbedded in their flesh from the eighteen hundreds.

Scientists have looked into the eyes of rare bowhead whales and learned that some of them can outlive humans by generations—with at least one male pushing 200 years old.

"About 5 percent of the population is over a hundred years old and in some cases 160 to 180 years old," said Jeffrey Bada, a marine chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.

George examined several whales killed during an annual Inupiat hunt and found stone harpoons embedded in their flesh.

According to the Scripps Institution's Bada, "Stone harpoons rapidly disappeared when Europeans went into the Arctic. … That was around 1860, 1870."

"All of a sudden we had whales killed in the 1990s with stone harpoons in them, suggesting they may be a hundred years old."

George contacted Bada, who had done pioneering research a decade earlier showing that bowheads can reach a hundred years or older. At the time, Bada's work had been dismissed as nonsense.

It all just strengthens the case for saving the whales.

a higher form of mammal that can live 200 years?
can anyone seriously still think of a good reason to keep killing these things anymore??

Another clip from tonight's film.Btw saw this in full hd on 40" screen ,superb best documentary I have ever seen.

reply to post by wingsfan


I can only think of good reasons to protect them. Godspeed to the Sea Shepherds. Their tactics are harsh, but these creatures may simply be unable to communicate with us. What makes us so sure of our own superiority, I wonder, to assume they are automatically 'stupid animals'.

Some of these whales may have been pups swimming around when the British burned the White House. Amazing to consider....and they show real intelligence along with the age.

Wow, scary. This is a pretty cool article. On a related sidenote, I have an interesting fact. Sperm Whales got their name from the first time they were killed. The captain thought the fluid in its head was sperm, hence the name. When he killed a female whale the next time, the same liquid came out. I then realized it was oil and tried to change the name to the oil Whale, but it didn't work. That's why that whale has a weird name.


Also, its nickname is the "Right-Whale" because after you killed it, you knew it was the right one if it floated with the oil. If it sank, it was the wrong one.

reply to post by CommunistCapitalist


Saw a dead sperm whale a few months ago washed up on pegwell beach Kent. They made a documentary out of the dissection of it. Fascinating watch here

We are petty monkeys compared to these beings. I am awed by the arrogance which only now gives dogs emotion and is not treating these beings as our equals or betters. I have been around Dolphin ,bottle nosed and striped, Beluga in Cook's inlet Alaska and have been eye to eye with my bare hand touching the barnacled skin of a grey whale surfing point Concepcion in Cali. These are sentient beings, a group of non-human races we are warring with and they reply with love( Dolphins DO save humans in trouble). I love the Lord and honor His Creation enough to Honor his older work. whales have been around a lot longer than us and because we are the chosen by OUR creator we dare claim more?Is it wrong to recognize beings who live in God's grace every moment? How sad for us...How sad for them. How sad for God.
They are the true inhabitants of this world as they know in ways we never can the 2/3 of the world we will never truly know. They live in perfect harmony with their world which is more of this planet than we scratch away at and soil. Any one who can defend their slaughter ,to me, is less than worthy of the same air as the rest of us mammals breathe.
seed

Sleeping Sperm Whales

thanks for posting this. I honestly needed a good story after reading about the mother bear and her cub at the Bile farm in china this makes me feel much better.


when i think about ocean mammals I am always reminded of how closely we resemble them emotionally/spirituaully and in the womb, I remember a docu. that compared the dolphins and humans in the womb I was stunned at how similar we look.

Must be painful to have a harpoon stuck in your body for over a hundred years. I wonder if they had hands would they pull the harpoons and whack us over the head with them?

reply to post by tarifa37


Not much to add too your post but the stone spear bit reminded me of a story that came up in the paper last year (I'll go hunting in a bit and see if i can find it) The story related to a type of whale that they thought only lived for about 30-40 years however on dissecting one they found an old harpoon embedded in it one that used to have grenades attached to it that exploded on impact again this type of harpoon hadnt been used since the 1860's

As a side note me and my little girl watched that on the BBC too last night we both found it fascinating

reply to post by mustard seed


Thanks for the reminder that with all of mans arrogance we only truly occupy one third of the earth's surface leaving the other two thirds to the real kings of the planet. If these giants roamed the earth we would all be far more aware of them unfortunately they occupy another realm and its out of sight out of mind for most people.

Originally posted by mustard seed
We are petty monkeys compared to these beings. I am awed by the arrogance which only now gives dogs emotion and is not treating these beings as our equals or betters. I have been around Dolphin ,bottle nosed and striped, Beluga in Cook's inlet Alaska and have been eye to eye with my bare hand touching the barnacled skin of a grey whale surfing point Concepcion in Cali. These are sentient beings, a group of non-human races we are warring with and they reply with love( Dolphins DO save humans in trouble). I love the Lord and honor His Creation enough to Honor his older work. whales have been around a lot longer than us and because we are the chosen by OUR creator we dare claim more?Is it wrong to recognize beings who live in God's grace every moment? How sad for us...How sad for them. How sad for God.
They are the true inhabitants of this world as they know in ways we never can the 2/3 of the world we will never truly know. They live in perfect harmony with their world which is more of this planet than we scratch away at and soil. Any one who can defend their slaughter ,to me, is less than worthy of the same air as the rest of us mammals breathe.
seed

Doesn't the Bible state somewhere that God gave control over the animals to man?

Could have sworn I read that somewhere.

Originally posted by kro32

Originally posted by mustard seed
We are petty monkeys compared to these beings. I am awed by the arrogance which only now gives dogs emotion and is not treating these beings as our equals or betters. I have been around Dolphin ,bottle nosed and striped, Beluga in Cook's inlet Alaska and have been eye to eye with my bare hand touching the barnacled skin of a grey whale surfing point Concepcion in Cali. These are sentient beings, a group of non-human races we are warring with and they reply with love( Dolphins DO save humans in trouble). I love the Lord and honor His Creation enough to Honor his older work. whales have been around a lot longer than us and because we are the chosen by OUR creator we dare claim more?Is it wrong to recognize beings who live in God's grace every moment? How sad for us...How sad for them. How sad for God.
They are the true inhabitants of this world as they know in ways we never can the 2/3 of the world we will never truly know. They live in perfect harmony with their world which is more of this planet than we scratch away at and soil. Any one who can defend their slaughter ,to me, is less than worthy of the same air as the rest of us mammals breathe.
seed

Doesn't the Bible state somewhere that God gave control over the animals to man?

Could have sworn I read that somewhere.

Another pearl of ignorance kro? What he gave is Dominion as stewards of His creation.. Typical Xtian response(note I do NOT use Jesus´ name for whatever this religion is) ¨GOD gave it to us¨ No sorry ,it is His and our charge is stewardship.We just get to use it like we honor His work . Another drive by with the dumb gun dude.
seed

reply to post by mustard seed


You'll notice it was framed as a question implying that possible I didn't know the answer.

I would suggest switching to decaf

I don't see anything here about being stewards

1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

He's telling us to have dominion and subdue. Seems like he is telling us to do whatever we want as it's under our control.

So there is no way someone can claim these whales are our equal. They were put here to be ruled over by us.

Dissembling is what little girls do when they are caught out. You can not play know it all and then play dumb.
Wholesale slaughter of any of God´s creation is NOT stewardship and it is not control it is sinful waste and arguably murder.Your post is a prime example of anthrocentric hubris and poor understanding of scripture fostered by Xtian false prophets.
seed

reply to post by mustard seed


Don't argue with me, I didn't write it.

Bring it up with God

I noticed that animals who have slower heart rates seem to live longer. Usually, bigger mammals have slower heart rates and can have a pretty long life span, whereas smaller mammals, like mice, rats, dogs, etc... who have faster heart rates, live a shorter lifespan...

reply to post by Magnum007


Good point

Seems obvious but I hadn't thought of that. However take turtles they live long yet some larger animals than them die quicker.