Was He the World’s Oldest Whale?

A gigantic bowhead whale recently killed by Eskimos may prove to have been the oldest whale
on earth. Estimated to have been more than 115 years ago, it provides evidence that these
whales may be some of the longest-living mammals. They are thought to survive for up to 200
years.

New evidence came to light when a 50-ton bowhead shale was killed by members of an Inuit
village. As they were dismembering the big mammal, they discovered fragments of a harpoon
lodged in one of its shoulder blades.

It turns out that the harpoon tip could be determined to have been made in the late 1800s in New
Bedford. And given the time range when that type of harpoon was used, they believe the whale
was shot sometime between 1885 and 1895.

Alaskan biologists will attempt to verify this estimate by studying the whale’s eyes, which often
cloud as they grow old.

Bowheads, who only live in the waters of the Arctic, were nearly hunted to extinction around the
turn of the century because of the demand by women for whalebone corsets. Fortunately the
fashion industry has changed and now only Alaska’s native tribes hunt the whales.

Was this really the world’s oldest mammal? I suspect not, but it certainly gives new meaning to
the word “old..”