It blows the mind to think of what this whale has experienced in its ~130-year lifetime. Considering the number of times this magnificant animal has been shot at (with several impacts, the number of misses must have been impressive) it is an amazing feat to have lived as long as it did. Note that it never did escape that sorry fate. Considering the proven intelligence among whales one wonders what the bowhead thought of mankind.
Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3.5-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale’s age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.
“No other finding has been this precise,” said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
Calculating a whale’s age can be difficult, and is usually gauged by amino acids in the eye lenses. It’s rare to find one that has lived more than a century, but experts say the oldest were close to 200 years old.
The whale, which was nearly half a football field long, had a bomb lance fragment lodged a bone between the its neck and shoulder blade. The fragment was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time, Bockstoce said.
I could make a crack about the life expectancy of a black man in an urban center but that would be in poor taste.
“It blows the mind to think of what this whale has experienced in its ~130-year lifetime.”
Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton. Mmmm… salt water…. Mmmm… plankton….
“I could make a crack about the life expectancy of a black man in an urban center but that would be in poor taste.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Seriously? Poor urban blacks are joke fodder on dvorak.org/blog?
F*ck you, Smartalix.
That joke was only funny if you find the plight of the downtrodden laughable. Jeebus Xist!
Sick.
3. Jeez give the man a break, it was social commentary, not a joke.
Death and destruction is only joke fodder only among a small number of commenters I see here on a regular basis. An accurate reflection of the culture, nation and time we live in.
I’d say #4 has it correct.
OK, #3 – I’ll presume you haven’t visited here, often. I think Smartalix was making a wry remark about the recent case of 3 unarmed Black men shot up, 1 of them killed, by triggerhappy cops in NYC. The 1 killed was at his bachelor party. He was engaged to marry Smartlix’s cousin.
5. Tell me you’re joking. I’m just stunned.
RBG
I am sick that people are celebrating the discovery of this 110 year old weapon found in a whale that was 130 YEARS OLD!!! Why aren’t we instead mourning the loss of this bad-ass creature that eluded stupid humans for 130 YEARS!!!! And may have lived 70 more according to biologists. I’m embarrassed to be human right now.
“A black man between 115 and 130 years old”…Bill Cosby? (sorry, couldn’t resist)
This story was spun by AP since the whale was never captured. It was killed by some Native American jerks who take advantage of their ‘rights” to kill such animals. Nobody wants to say anything that will offend them. Using the word “captured” over and over is ludicrous. Whale killing should be out and out banned. Why do these certain tribes continue the practice? They say it is their heritage, but does their heritage include power boats and modern high-powered harpoon guns?
7 – Tanya : exactly. . .I too will mourn the senseless killing of such a rare sentient being.
9 – JCD : succinct and spot-on.
I am all about native rights and respect for their ancient ways/heritage and all that but using cannon fired explosive darts to hunt whales?!? Soooo. . .is dynamite for salmon OK, too?
Killing off all sealife may be a better metric for human population control than killing off the ozone
or burning all the oil
Of course we could always excercise some control..
If it was for giving some medication to the Whale, I believe the usage of the bow is good, but if it was used for killing the animal, let’s hope that it never happens again.
Considering the proven intelligence among whales one wonders what the bowhead thought of mankind.
I’d imagine he thought the same way about our species that I do. Hint: Check my blog alias.
#7 – Tanya,
I’m with you about 98%. Two differences though. First, in order to conserve a species it helps a lot to know things like life expectancy, age of sexual maturity, and frequency of births. I would hope that the celebration is about learning one of these items.
Second, the Inuit do need to hunt to survive. They have a lifestyle, to which they are actually genetically attuned, which requires killing a number of species that for larger populations of humans can certainly not be hunted sustainably. I have very mixed feelings about this since many of the species they eat, including seal, narwhal, bowhead, etc., are intelligent.
They also continue this even where they have supermarkets, so maybe it is not necessary anymore. And, of course, there’s a moral issue to killing highly intelligent animals.
You may be surprised, however, to note that pigs and tuna are quite intelligent as well, though likely not up there with cetaceans.
So, all of that said, I will somewhat agree with #10 – MaTa and say that I too mourn the killing of such a rare sentient being.
However, I have deliberately removed the word senseless since the issue of Inuit hunting is too complex. Perhaps they should at least continue to use traditional hunting methods if they are claiming to be maintaining their traditional lifestyle. Perhaps they should not use exploding harpoons to hunt bowheads and rifles to hunt seals and narwhals.
#6 – sadly, no joke.
The part that gets me the most is that this animal has managed to survive in an environment made so hostile to his species’ existence by mankind that he carries around the evidence of being a target for over 100 years in his body.
BTW, thanks to Moss for the support.
#9, JD
Why shouldn’t Inuit hunt whales and other animals. Are we prepared to give them welfare subsistence instead?
The idea that if they want to hunt they should use ancient practices is just bull. If anyone insists that any part of society revert back to a less efficient method of any endeavor, then maybe all of society should revert, not just Inuit and Indians. Maybe the critics could start by giving up their computers and go back to scratching on cave walls to get their message across.
Until that time, get use to it. Every endeavor mankind does has some impact on the environment to some degree. It is dangerous to pick one culture’s way of life over another, especially when that preferred culture has many deficiencies of its own.
#2 & 3,
You guys are new here aren’t you? Maybe if you had been around a little longer you would understand the background. Hey, not to worry, welcome and please feel to comment. And you’ll find Smartalix is one of the brightest minds around. A great guy too.
I’m with others. Other than needless death at 130, the saddest part of the story for me is the fact that we’re still harpooning whales in the 21st century.
I don’t want to live in a world of synthetic fibers, tofu, genetically modified meat grown in vats and everything pickled in preservatives.
I think its great that the inuit are hunting wales and that hunting (and gardening and keeping livestock) is something we should at least try once in our lifetime so we can get out of our cocoon world and actually learn what just about everyone else has known since the beginning of time: life feeds on life. Its not a good thing, and not a bad thing, its just a thing. Its there. We can’t close or eyes to it, or selectively decide that certain animals are too smart or to cute to be part of that cycle, or that somehow killing worms and snails and their habbit to grow tofu and vegetables is okay but killing a wales is not.
#16 – Mr. Fusion,
The reason I suggested that in this particular case is that no one else in the U.S. or Canada is allowed to hunt whales (quite correctly in my opinion). So, the Inuit are allowed to because they claim to be continuing their subsistence lifestyle. Well, not with high powered weaponry they’re not. Know how they hunt narwhal? They wait ’til the animal inhales then shoot him/her with a rifle. If they fail to wait for the inhale, the whale sinks.
They also mostly no longer use dog sleds. They use snowmobiles. Birding there is great. They have wonderful birds. Hey check out that one by the third two stroke motor oil can on the left!
So, I agree that they should be allowed to continue their lifestyle. But, they should not have it both ways. They have government subsidized markets, high powered weapons, and a legal right to harpoon whales with exploding harpoons. It’s not the traditional lifestyle at all.
And, to prove how much more successful this makes them as killing machines, consider that the small town of Pond Inlet had around 300 people in the 70s and had 1,350 when I was there a few years ago. There are few people moving there, possibly just our guide as the only one, It’s all just babies having babies having babies, supported by an obvious increase in their ability to find/acquire food and goods.
So, no, I’m not looking to take the rifles away from hunters sustainably hunting prey species such as deer, moose, and caribou. I’m just saying that with animals on whom there is a hunting moratorium, those with an exception for maintaining their lifestyle should indeed maintain their lifestyle or give up the pretense.
#1 destroyed this thread, and you’re all just floundering in his wake.
Flounder? Wake? Get it?
Not that I would still want to bump into one in a dark alley, however:
Wouldn’t a 49 foot whale only be about a sixth of a football field long?
“which was nearly half a football field long”
Apparently a second tragedy took place as well, because this must have been the largest whale of any size, ever. According to that font of knowledge, Wikipedia, the largest previous record-holding whale reaches about 110 feet, meaning that this bowhead whale was up to 40 feet longer.
Or more likely the reporter confused feet with yards….
20,
Cute pun, and at least more thought out than the post you are referring to. On the intellectual front, whales have very complex social interactions, and communication is a keystone of intelligence and experience.On the physical front, whales are not simple passive plankton nets, and dodging a whale boat is a lot more than just running away. Imagine a U-Boat captain trying to dodge a destroyer that not only wanted to kill him, but eat him too.
9. Hey, JC, you’re alright by me.
13. “They have a lifestyle, to which they are actually genetically attuned…”
And what lifestyle might the rest of us be genetically attuned for over the last millions of years? Or did our genetic re-attuning only happen in the last numbers of hundred years?
I don’t get it. First Nations invoke inherent aboriginal rights that supercede current equality laws on the basis that they are merely carrying out the activities of their ancestors for more than 10,000 years. If this right is so strong, I would expect the rest of us can go back to Europe, or wherever our families originated, to carry out our own similar aboriginal rights there.
Or can our recent man-made rules of civilization forbidding this supercede? You can’t have it both ways.
RBG
That said,
If you’re so concerned about the pain and torture animals go through when hunted, I have a bulletin for you. As unbelieveable as it may sound, I have it on good authority that intelligent animals are ripped apart alive in the most brutal fashion continuously every day all over the world. Even little baby bunnies. Bunnies! And people have nothing to do with this.
Personally, I think it’s high time we set up a protest or write-in campaign or did something involving music.
RBG
25,
The issue here to me isn’t hunting per se but having lived as a target for ~130 years. If we found a 10-point buck with some antique slugs in it I’d be just as interested.
#16 I read this blog every day. I don’t find it necessary to become involved in every battle of Wills here.
I don’t know the story you are referring to. I don’t laugh at too many poor black jokes because I grew up in inner-city Cleveland. I have seen too many lives destryoyed by lack of opportunity and poverty. Some would call it lack of desire to get ahead. I think things are more complicated than that.
Call me addled.
it’s natural for females to like tough males with scars so chances are that he got a lot of the girls, add his almighty 15 feet long whale penis…
#19, Scott,
Good points. A very well composed post.
Inuit hunting one whale though, in my opinion, should not be equated the same as commercial whale hunting as practiced by Norway and Japan. That this whale died is a shame. That it will be used to feed people that otherwise would have to depend upon the Government’s largess is not a bad thing.
So what if they hunt the whale? Is there a shortage? Someone come over here and get the fucking geese that litter the ball fields and gold courses.
BTW these animals do not possess conscious thought, so the notion of this thing “experiencing” in it’s lifetime is absurd.
Also I don’t know where JCD is referring to the whale’s “capture” this article clearly states that he was hunted.