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Bowhead whale5/17/2023 ![]() The killer whale or orca is their only natural enemy. They follow openings in the pack ice into the Chuckchi and Beaufort seas. Off of Alaska, the bowheads spend the winter months in the southwestern Bering Sea and migrate northward in the spring. There is increasing speculation that a bowhead’s life expectancy may be over 100 years.įour or five separate stocks of bowheads inhabit Arctic waters. The patch near the tail turns whiter and larger with age, and very old bowheads may have all-white tails. There may be white markings on their stomach and a gray-white band just in front of their fluke. They have a few stiff hairs at the front of both the upper and lower jaws. Bowhead color is blue-black except for a splotch of white on their chin called a vest. Adult males reach physical maturity at 50 feet and may weigh in excess of 60 tons. Its maximum length is 60-65 feet and its weight is about a ton per foot females are larger than males. Its flippers (pectoral fins) are broad and paddle-shaped and about six feet in length. Its deeply notched flukes (tail) when mature can measure 25 feet from tip to tip. The bowhead has two blowholes and therefore spouts two jets of breath which form a V. Like its close relative, the right whale, the bowhead lacks a dorsal fin. It may be helped by its mother using her flippers. The calf is born tail first, which is common for cetaceans, and it instinctively swims to the surface to breath. A newborn is about 17 feet long and weighs about 5-6 tons. Births apparently occur in spring/early summer and calves are weaned 9-15 months after birth. It is estimated that calves are probably born every three or four years after a gestation period of 13-14 months. They consume about two tons of food a day. Bowhead whales feed on planktonic organisms including copepods, amphipods, euphausiids, and various other crustaceans. Larger congregations of bowheads are found at feeding grounds. Bowheads commonly travel alone or in small groups of up to six animals. Sexual activity has been observed between pairs, as well as groups of several males and one or two females. Long repetitive songs are displayed by some whales that may be related to mating. A bowhead’s large head is capable of breaking through three inches of ice.īowhead whales use underwater sounds - described as low moans - to communicate while they are socializing, traveling and feeding. Death could result from suffocation if a bowhead is trapped under ice. If they leave too late, they run the risk of becoming icebound. ![]() In fall, they abandon their high altitude feeding grounds just before ice forms. Baleen is not bone at all, but a keratinous substance similar to the nails and hair of humans.īowhead migration patterns seem to depend on ice formation and movement. “Whalebone,” as it was called, was used for umbrellas, corsets, springs for horse-drawn carriages or anything that needed a tough, springy material. Over 100 years ago, baleen was used for many items which made it very valuable to whalers. ![]() The bowhead’s baleen is by far the longest of any whale, reaching a recorded length of 15 feet, but averaging 10-11 feet. ![]() A 19th century whaling captain, Scoresby, wrote “.when the mouth is open it presents a cavity as large as a room.” From the upper jaw of the massive curved mouth, as many as 300 triangles of narrow baleen may hang. The top of the huge head is curved and narrow (like a bow). ![]() The enormous head of a bowhead occupies nearly one-third of an adult’s body size. When the whale has captured a large number of invertebrates, it closes its mouth and swallows the meal. In its Arctic home, the bowhead whale holds its huge mouth open as it slowly swims through food-rich waters, letting the water flow through its baleen. DERIVATION: from the Latin balaena for whale. ![]()
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