AnAge entry for Balaena mysticetus
Classification (HAGRID: 02275)
- Taxonomy
-
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
Order: Cetacea (Taxon entry)
Family: Balaenidae
Genus: Balaena
- Species
- Balaena mysticetus
- Common name
- Bowhead whale
Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits
- Maximum longevity
- 211 years (wild)
- Source
- ref. 21
- Sample size
- Medium
- Data quality
- Acceptable
- Observations
These animals exhibit slow growth and high survival. Growth may be faster in females than in males, and it slows down markedly at around 40-50 years of age. Sexual maturity is probably reached at age 20-25. Using an indirect method for age estimation based on aspartic acid racemization, the bowhead whale has been recorded as the longest-lived mammal thanks to one male estimated to be 211 years-old. The same study found three other male specimens estimated to be over 100 years of age. Very few obvious signs of pathology were found in old bowheads. The 211 year-old specimen was reported to appear old with tough meat and blubber. One of the centenarian males exhibited a spondylitic lesion on the vertebra. Reproductive senescence has not been reported, though detailed studies are lacking [0021]. While these longevity claims may be overestimated, it is likely that bowhead whales can live longer than humans and are amongst the longest-living mammals.
Bowhead whales have been shown to not get cataracts. This could possibly be due to high levels of sphingolipid content in their lens membranes, which may prevent oxidation [1310].
Life history traits (averages)
- Female sexual maturity
- 8,212 days
- Male sexual maturity
- 8,212 days
- Gestation
- 396 days
- Weaning
- Litter size
- 1 (viviparous)
- Litters per year
- 0.3
- Inter-litter interval
- 1,642 days
- Weight at birth
- 900,000 g
- Weight at weaning
- Adult weight
- 100,000,000 g
- Postnatal growth rate
Metabolism
No information on metabolism is available.
References
- [1310] Borchman et al. (2017), Whales, lifespan, phospholipids, and cataracts (PubMed)
- [1136] Gomes et al. (2011), Comparative biology of mammalian telomeres: hypotheses on ancestral states and the roles of telomeres in longevity determination (PubMed)
- [0978] Jones et al. (2009), PanTHERIA: a species-level database of life history, ecology, and geography of extant and recently extinct mammals
- [1309] Leigh Haag (2007), Patented harpoon pins down whale age
- [0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
- [0890] Zeh et al. (2002), Survival of bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, estimated from 1981-1998 photoidentification data (PubMed)
- [0447] Pieter Folkens et al. (2002), National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World
- [0021] George et al. (1999), Age and growth estimates of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) via aspartic acid racemization
- [0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
- [0538] Don Wilson and Sue Ruff (1999), The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals
- [0049] John Burns et al. (1993), The Bowhead Whale
- [0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
- [0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
External Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- ITIS 180533
- Animal Diversity Web
- ADW account (if available)
- Encyclopaedia of Life
- Search EOL
- NCBI Taxonomy
- Taxonomy ID 27602
- Entrez
- Search all databases
- Ageing Literature
- Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
- Images
- Google Image search
- Internet
- Search Google