AnAge entry for Megaptera novaeangliae
Classification (HAGRID: 02283)
- Taxonomy
-
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
Order: Cetacea (Taxon entry)
Family: Balaenopteridae
Genus: Megaptera
- Species
- Megaptera novaeangliae
- Common name
- Humpback whale
- Synonyms
- Megaptera nodosa, Megaptera braziliensis, Megaptera indica, Megaptera lalandii, Megaptera longimana, Megaptera longipinna, Megaptera osphya, Megaptera versabilis, Balaena nodosa, Balaena lalandii, Balaena longimana, Balaena novaeangliae, Megaptera novaeangliae novaeangliae, Megaptera novaeangliae australis, Megaptera novaeangliae kuzira
Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits
- Maximum longevity
- 95 years (wild)
- Source
- ref. 573
- Sample size
- Medium
- Data quality
- Acceptable
- Observations
Epigenetic estimation can be used to estimate age in humpback whales, producing age distributions close to the expected values [1175].
Studies comparing ageing-associated differentially methylated positions (aDMPs) between mouse, dog, naked mole-rat, rhesus monkey, humpback whale and human, have shown that lifespan in these mammalian species is strongly correlated with the rate of change of methylation levels in aDMPs. Additionally, these methylation dynamics are a measure of cellular ageing [1315].
Life history traits (averages)
- Female sexual maturity
- 1,643 days
- Male sexual maturity
- 1,643 days
- Gestation
- 342 days
- Weaning
- Litter size
- 1 (viviparous)
- Litters per year
- 0.5
- Inter-litter interval
- 657 days
- Weight at birth
- 1,350,000 g
- Weight at weaning
- Adult weight
- 30,000,000 g
- Postnatal growth rate
Metabolism
- Typical body temperature
- 309ºK or 36.0ºC or 96.8ºF
- Basal metabolic rate
- Not yet available
References
- [1315] Lowe et al. (2018), Ageing-associated DNA methylation dynamics are a molecular readout of lifespan variation among mammalian species (PubMed)
- [1175] Polanowski et al. (2014), Epigenetic estimation of age in humpback whales (PubMed)
- [0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
- [0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
- [0538] Don Wilson and Sue Ruff (1999), The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals
- [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
- [0573] David Macdonald (1985), The Encyclopedia of Mammals
- [1044] Morrison (1962), Body temperatures in some Australian mammals. III Cetacea (Megaptera)
External Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- ITIS 180530
- Animal Diversity Web
- ADW account
- Encyclopaedia of Life
- Search EOL
- NCBI Taxonomy
- Taxonomy ID 9773
- Entrez
- Search all databases
- Ageing Literature
- Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
- Images
- Google Image search
- Internet
- Search Google