Bowhead Whale

Facts: The Bowhead Whale is the 5th biggest whale and is bluish black with a white underside in color, it has no dorsal fin. It has short narrow flippers and it is very thick and round at the front of it's body but it narrows out all the way down to it's fluke. The Bowhead whale's huge head takes up 40% of it's body! This large mouth is used to swallow large quantities of prey in a single gulp! It has the thickest blubber of any animal, from about 17-19 inches. The Bowhead Whale can reach 60 feet long and can weigh 60 tons. The Bowhead Whale lives in the Northern Hemisphere in Artic waters and likes to spend most its time under ice sheets in bays and peninsulas. The current population is 6,000-10,000. The Bowhead Whale has several names, Its original name was The Greenland Right Whale, even though some people call it that still. Some other names are the Artic Whale, Steeple-Top, Polar Whale or the Russian Whale. The Bowhead Whale has the biggest mouth of any animal and the Bowhead's baleen can reach 5 meters. The Bowhead is the longest living mammal in existence, sometimes living to 200 years. It is also the 2nd heaviest mammal in existence after the Blue Whale. Bowhead Whales stay year-round in their Artic homes, unlike other whales they don't migrate to warmer places to reproduce or find more food. The Bowhead Whale was named the "Bowhead Whale" because of it's high arched lower jaw. The Bowhead Whale uses it's big head to break through ice sheets to breathe. It can break up to 2ft of ice!

Type: Rorqual. Scientific Name: Baleana Mysticetus. Calf Weight: 2,000 lbs. Gestation Period: 13-14 months. Status: Rare. Family: Balaenidae. Habitat: Ocean. Group Size: 1-14. Threats: cranes, nets, ships, whalers, orcas, etc.. Diet: Krill, plankton, copepods, mysids. Order: Cetacea. Species: B. Mysticetus.

History: The Bowhead Whale was originally called the "Greenland Right Whale" the right in the whale name was because whalers called it that because it was the "right" whale to kill because it had a lot of blubber for oil, lamps, meat and parts for trophies and they could collect all of them because the whale floated at the surface when it was killed. A Bowhead Whale was found living near the Artic is estimated to have lived 250 years, proving how long they can live, it somehow survived predator attacks and whaling during it's long life. In 1966 there was a moratorium to protect the Bowhead Whale because of it's fast decreasing numbers, and over time it's numbers increased until they lifted the moratorium and the Bowhead Whale was voted least concern. Carl Linneaus first talked about and described this whale in the 10th edition of the Systema Naturae, on how it was almost identical to it's Right Whale cousins in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and if it might be the same genus of the Southern and Northern Right Whale.