#bowhead whales

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[dougdimmadodo]

Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus)

Family: Right Whale Family (Balaenidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Named for its extremely large, bow-shaped head (which can be used to smash through thin sea ice when surfacing to breathe), the Bowhead Whale can grow to be 15-18 meters (50-60ft) long, may weigh over 54,500 kg (120,000lbs) and is believed to have the potential to live for over 200 years (quite possibly the longest lifespan of any mammal.) Native to arctic and sub-arctic oceans, it feeds on plankton and other small invertebrates which it filters from the water using the comb-like baleen plates in its mouth; its extremely long baleen plates (around 4 meters/13ft in length, longer than those of any other whale) and enormous head (which makes up around 1/3rd of its total body length and features the largest mouth of any animal, opening to be around 3.7 meters/12ft high and 2.4 meters/8ft wide) make it one of the most efficient filter-feeders on earth, allowing an adult Bowhead Whale to consume around 2 tonnes of prey each day. In comparison to other whales Bowhead Whales are not particularly social and typically live alone or in small groups of 3-6 individuals, although during migration they may gather in larger numbers, and as they are not particularly aggressive towards other members of their species it is not unusual for several unassociated individuals to gather together in particularly plankton-rich areas when feeding. Bowhead Whales migrate south to relatively warm subarctic waters during the arctic winter to avoid becoming trapped beneath sea-ice that is too thick for them to break through, and while they may mate at any time of year they typically give birth while migrating back to the arctic in the spring, producing a single calf every 3-4 years after a gestation period of 13-14 months (with calves already being around 4 meters/13ft long and weighing over 900kg/2000lbs at birth.) The enormous size of this species means that it has only one natural predator (the Orca), but historically humans have hunted Bowheads extensively for their meat, bones, blubber and baleen. Commercial whaling once brought Bowhead Whales to the brink of extinction, but throughout the 1970s the practice of hunting this species was near-universally outlawed (with the only exceptions being made for two indigenous communities in Siberia and Alaska who hunt members of this species for subsistence on such a small scale that they do not have a significant negative impact on the species’ overall population.) As of the time of writing this, the IUCN believes that the numbers of several local populations of Bowhead Whales have stabilized and begun to recover from the damage done by commercial whaling, with the species’ overall global population numbers actively increasing.

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Animal Advent Calendar - Day 23

Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/74103-Balaena-mysticetus

[antiqueanimals]

The Child's Picture Scrap Book. Containing Upwards of Four Hundred Illustrations by John Gilbert, J. D. Watson, Wolf, Coleman, etc. 1865.

Internet Archive

[davidstanleytravel]

The bones of bowhead whales slaughtered during the 17th century by English whalers can still be found at Gåshamna (Konstantinovka) on Hornsund, South Svalbard, Norway.

[fungushoney]

Every so often I remember comercial whaling and become physically sick so here’s some little snippets about my heart the bowhead whale

[feather-bone]

Bowhead whale! The longest-lived mammal, reaching ages of over 200.

[ID: an illustration of a dark grey whale with a white chin swimming in profile to the right. The background is a wavy sea on the bottom and a sky of planets in orbit on top. End.]

[hurglewurm]

and today i bring you: boars, ostriches, various whales (i was going for just baleen whales but my classmate begged for a beluga), and every species of bear from smallest to largest (image descriptions in alt)

[ztbastian]

"I Made some Whales"

[namu-the-orca]

Big Bearded Beasts

In other words: new baleen whale friends! These were for Pappyr, an Icelandic company that sells posters and postcards. They are currently working on a new poster showing Icelandic cetaceans (I've seen the preview, it's super sweet!) with my illustrations on it. Most I had ready to go, but a couple had to be made anew.

Amongst which these three ladies. Blue whales I've illustrated a bunch now, but the ones I've had were too small for this poster. So finally an illustration made at a large size (7000px) befitting the largest animal to ever have lived. Every time I work on them I discover something new to change compared to the last version!

Bowhead whales I feel I still haven't sussed out. There are so few good photos of them that actually show overall body proportions, and their faces seem different every time. They're fascinating animals though and I hope this one does them enough justice. They are probably the longest living mammal, reaching upwards of 200 years of age!!

The Gray whale is by far my favourite of this bunch. Last I illustrated them was over 10 years ago, in 2012. While I was still fond of the old illustration, working on this new one made me realise how much could be improved. They've such beautiful, unique faces, and painting all those spots and scratches that mark their skin (in part natural colouration, but mostly scars from barnacles and other hitchhikers) was a lot of fun. Gray whales too are record holders, making the longest migration of any mammal. Their yearly round trips between the Arctic feeding grounds and calving grounds off Baja California are good for 16,000 - 22,500 kms.

[theboarsbride]

Mermaid Sir John for @kapitanfreimann 🐋

[jjdogasaur]

Monstober day 11 with hopefully the last time I'm late on a monstober

[octonauts-daily]

[antiqueanimals]

The Sea and its Wonders. Written by Mary and Elizabeth Kirby. 1871.

Internet Archive

[zipperpillar]

New ref for my fursona🐳🐳🐳

[respect-the-locals]

🐋Daily Cetacean Fact:🐋

Bowhead Whale: Of all large whales, the bowhead is the most adapted to life in icy water. Adaptations to this environment include an insulating layer of blubber that can be up to 1.6 feet thick. The bow-shaped skull can be over 16.5 feet long—about a third of a bowhead’s body length. The bowhead’s large, thick skull allows them to break through 8-inch-thick sea ice.

[averysmallcetacean]

science is trending yayayay!!!!

science is awesome

space is awesome

the ocean is awesome

whales are awesome

they're so cool

cetology is awesome

fun fact: bowheads can live for 200 years possibly even longer, we know this cause there are individuals who are still alive with harpoon remnants embedded in them that can be dated to 200 years ago!!!!

btw I can remember if I have mentioned this but a couple of months ago I saw SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALES, my favourite species!!!!! I SAW 2 GREY MORPHS, TOGETHER, AAAAAAAAAA, It was the best day of the year and I was there BY CHANCE

IT WAS AMAZING