Named for their steeply arched upper jaw that resembles an archer’s bow, the bowhead whale (balaena mysticetus) is the longest living mammal species discovered to date. Their unique metabolisms, slowed by the temperature and food scarcity of the arctic waters they call home, allow their bodies to age at a far slower rate than other species, allowing them to live around two hundred years.
Their heads make up about one-third to forty percent of their overall body length, and their skulls are incredibly dense, allowing them to break through ice up to two feet thick to create breathing holes. Considering their total body length can be up to twenty meters (sixty-five feet), that makes their heads up to eight meters long.
Because they yielded so many valuable resources, bowheads were severely overhunted for quite some time. When commercial whaling slowed and eventually fell out of fashion in 1921, there were less than 3,000 bowheads left in the Arctic. This is compared to the estimated population of 50,000 minimum pre-commercial whaling. Today, the population in the western Arctic is around 12,000, but in some places it’s only in the hundreds. The species is listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Ari Costulis can be contacted via email at acostulis@twu.edu
Artwork by Aliyah Valdovinos
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