Bowhead whales. The bowhead whale is an interesting marine giant. people and whales
Description
Baleen whale living in the polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Maximum length: 20 m (females) and even 22 m., 18 m (males); the weight of an adult animal is from 75 to 100 tons and 150 tons. Dives to a depth of 200 m and can stay underwater for up to 40 minutes. The average speed is about 20 km/h.
Lifespan
The average life expectancy is about 40 years. However, it is possible that individual individuals can live up to 211 years, which was considered a record among vertebrates. This is an indirect estimate calculated from the measurement of the degree of racemization of aspartic acid in the body of the whale, the results of the estimate may not be accurate. Based on the same method, three more males were identified, whose age exceeds 100 years. Moreover, only a few obvious signs of pathology were found in these four whales. However, this record is challenged by a shark from the species Somniosus microcephaluswhose age can range from 272 to 512 years. However, the bowhead whale remains a contender for the title of longest-lived mammal.
habitat
The bowhead whale lives in the cold waters of the Northern Hemisphere, the most "southern" herd of these whales is found in the Sea of Okhotsk (54 degrees north latitude). This is the only species of baleen whales that spends its entire life in polar waters (other species live in southern temperate waters, and swim in northern waters only for feeding). Due to the harsh living conditions of bowhead whales, observing them is difficult. In spring, bowhead whales migrate north, in autumn - south, retreating from the ice. Despite the addiction to the polar latitudes, these whales do not like to be among the ice. However, sometimes they are forced to make their way right in the ice, splitting the ice floes. There are cases when a polar whale broke an ice floe 22 cm thick. During migration, bowhead whales often line up like an inverted “V”, which makes it easier for them to hunt. After recent research by scientists, a version has appeared that under the common name "bowhead whale" there may be two different species that live in the same waters. This version is based on the fact that the structure of the skeleton, body color, length and color of whiskers are different for different individuals. However, this version still requires detailed consideration and additional study.
Sea of Okhotsk
Little is known about the endangered populations of the Sea of Okhotsk, however, in the 2000s, whales were regularly sighted near the Shantar Islands close to the coast. According to Russian scientists, the total number of whales does not exceed 400 animals. Scientific studies of this population group were rare until 2009, when researchers studying beluga whales noted concentrations of bowhead whales in the study area. Russian scientists and ecologists collaborated with the World Wildlife Fund to create the Shantar Islands National Park, which was established by a decree of the Russian government in the Khabarovsk Territory to preserve the unique ecosystems of the Sea of Okhotsk.
Food
Bowhead whales feed exclusively on plankton, predominantly consisting of representatives of crustaceans (mainly calanuses (Calanus finmarchicus), as well as winged mollusks Limacina helicina ) . An adult bowhead whale can consume up to 1.8 tons of food daily.
Bowhead whales feed in a way typical of all representatives of baleen whales. About 325-360 whalebone plates up to 4.3 meters long hang from each side of the whale's mouth. During feeding, the whale moves through the water column with its mouth open. At the same time, planktonic crustaceans settled on the mustache plates are scraped off with the tongue and swallowed. A characteristic feature of the baleen of bowhead whales is its unusually thin structure, which allows the animal to filter out crustaceans that, due to their size, are inaccessible to other whales.
reproduction
The current population of bowhead whales, estimated at at least 10,000 individuals, is mainly concentrated in the Chukchi, Bering, and Beaufort seas.
- On the island of Itygran there is Whale Alley, built from 50-60 skulls and 30 jaws of bowhead whales and hundreds of specially laid stones. Dated to the 14th-16th centuries. n. e.
Notes
- Sokolov V. E. Five-language dictionary of animal names. Mammals. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / under the general editorship of acad. V. E. Sokolova. - M.: Rus. yaz., 1984. - S. 119. - 10,000 copies.
- Uspensky, S. M. Living in ice. / S. M. Uspensky. - M.: "Thought", 1978. - S. 50.
- There. - S. 50.
The bowhead or polar whale (lat. Balena mysticetus) belongs to the family of Smooth whales (Balaenidae). He is the only representative of the genus Balena and is considered the longest-lived record holder among mammals.
In 2000, researchers from the Marine Research Institute at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California examined the amino acid composition of the eyes and fat of captured animals and concluded that they were approximately 135 to 211 years old. Later, their conclusions were confirmed by the tips of bone harpoons found in the body of whales, used by hunters until the 80s of the XIX century. Later, whalers completely switched to more efficient steel harpoons.
A new murder weapon has led to a sharp decline in the population. If at the beginning of the 18th century it was estimated at 50 thousand individuals, then after 200 years it did not exceed only a few hundred.
The bowhead whale was the first animal taken under the protection of the League of Nations in 1931.
After the end of World War II, its commercial mining was prohibited. The right to hunt it to meet their own needs was reserved only for the indigenous peoples of the North. Thanks to the measures taken, the number has increased tenfold and is currently estimated at 5000-8000 individuals.
Spreading
The polar whale is the only baleen whale (Mysticeti) that spends its entire life in arctic and subarctic waters. Most often it is observed in the Atlantic Ocean, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea.
Giant mammals migrate to the northern regions with the arrival of spring, and return back in autumn. Bowhead whales living near Alaska spend the winter off the southwestern coast of the Bering Sea.
With their mass, they can break ice floes up to 20 cm thick and break through ice up to 60 cm thick with their heads to make holes in it for breathing.
To date, the largest population lives in the Western Hemisphere in the Davis Strait between Greenland and Baffin Island, and the smallest in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Behavior
Animals live in groups of up to 14 individuals. During their movement, they form a wedge in the shape of the Latin letter V. Before the development of whaling, sailors repeatedly noticed up to a hundred gigantic mammals swimming together.
Giants wandering in the ice navigate in space by means of echolocation.
They stay under water for an average of 12 minutes, but are able to stay at depths of up to 200 m for an hour. Having emerged to the surface, they exhale with noise and release fountains of water high into the air. So they manage to clear the lungs and get rid of the excess carbon dioxide accumulated in them.
The giants slowly swim at a speed of 2-4 km/h, but if necessary, accelerate to 10 km/h. They rest and sleep on the surface of the sea, lazily swaying on the waves.
Due to their enormous size and herd lifestyle, they have practically no natural enemies. For young whales, only (Orcinus orca) are dangerous. These predators also attack lonely, old and sick animals. Polar whales flee from them by diving to great depths or hiding under a thick layer of ice.
Balaena mysticetus communicate with each other using sounds with a frequency of up to 1000 Hz. They perform peculiar drawn-out songs, which become especially complex and lengthy during the mating season.
Food
The head of the bowhead whale reaches almost a third of the entire body length and is a huge apparatus for prey and eating. Up to 360 whalebone plates hang down on the sides of its mouth. They reach 430 cm and serve to collect plankton, which lingers on them during the movement of the animal in the water column, when it simply swims with its mouth open.
Crustaceans stuck on the whiskers are scraped off by the whale's tongue and swallowed. The diet is dominated by copepods (Copepoda), amphipods (Amphipoda), shrimp (Caridea) and fish eggs. Up to 2 tons of food is eaten daily.
reproduction
Sexual maturity occurs at the age of 10-15 years. The mating season takes place in spring or early summer. Pregnancy lasts about 13 months. The next year, from April to June, the female gives birth to one calf. Childbirth takes place in water.
The body length of a newborn baby reaches 4 m, and the weight is about 1000 kg.
He is born with a thick layer of fat, which reliably protects him from hypothermia. The mother feeds him with thick and fatty milk. Milk feeding lasts up to six months. Then the offspring switches to feeding on zooplankton.
The kitten grows rapidly and grows up to 8 m by the age of one year. The female usually brings offspring at an interval of 3 years.
Description
Body length 14-15 m, maximum 20 m. Weight 50-60 tons. Several very large specimens have been observed, weighing up to approximately 100 tons. Females are larger than males.
Color black or dark grey. The belly is light grey. The head is large, rounded, with white stripes on the cheeks.
The muzzle can be 490 cm long, 370 cm high and 240 cm wide. There are no dorsal fins, and the pectoral fins grow up to 2 m.
The bowhead whale lives on average for about 60 years. Some specimens live up to 200 years or more. Only (Somniosus microcephalus) surpasses them in life expectancy.
Life on Earth originated in water many hundreds of millions of years ago, but time passed, in the course of evolution, marine life moved to land and began to develop on land. But the proud and majestic whales, which are perhaps the largest animals on the planet, remained to live in the oceans of the planet. And in all oceans, even northern ones. In conditions that are not very suitable for life, among the eternal cold and cold, one of the species lives - bowhead whales.
The bowhead (or polar) whale not so long ago - some 150-200 years ago - was found throughout the Arctic Ocean in huge quantities. Vessels sailing in the water area literally tacked in all directions between the swimming fish. In modern times, they have become much smaller, according to scientists - no more than ten or eleven thousand. What is this marine waterfowl?
Description and appearance
The description of the bowhead whale should start with the size, and they are impressive - the males reach a length of 18-19 meters, and the females of these animals are slightly larger - their length can be 22-23 meters. Adult whales gain weight up to 100 tons, but this is not the limit - some specimens have a mass of 150 tons.
The skull of the animal is very massive, its length is almost a third of the total body length, tiny eyes are located on both edges of the huge mouth. The lower U-shaped jaw is slightly larger than the upper, slightly protruding forward. All organs of touch - vibrissae (popularly called whalebones) are located on it. They are very thin and quite long - 5-5.5 meters, there are more than three hundred of them. The muzzle of the animal narrows and sharpens towards the end.
The animal does not have pronounced ears, but its hearing is excellent. The device of the inner ear allows you to perceive sound waves not only in the usual format and in a large range, but also in ultrasound.
On the crown of the head of the gigantic fish there is a blowhole - two not very large cracks through which the whale releases six-meter fountains of sea water with great force. The force of the released liquid is so powerful that the jets break through the ice thirty centimeters thick.
There is no fin on the back of the marine inhabitant, but there are two humps. They are clearly visible when viewed from the side of the whale. The pectoral fins look like oars - wide, not very long and with rounded tips. The giant's heart is huge - about the size of a car and weighs about half a ton.
Under the skin of the animal there is an impressive layer - up to 70 centimeters - of fat, which serves as a reliable protection from the deadly cold of the northern seas and oceans.
The tail is about nine meters, the tips are pointed, and there is a depression in the middle.
Lifestyle, character
Bowhead whales are gregarious creatures, although sometimes there are individuals leading a solitary lifestyle. Mammals are not permanently in any particular place, but migrate all the time. As soon as spring comes, the fish gather in flocks (up to 15 individuals) and head north. They usually move in a shoal or form a wedge, as birds do.The advantages of this method of movement are that in this way it is easier to push the ice and overcome obstacles encountered along the way. And as soon as autumn comes, they migrate back to the southern regions of the northern seas.
Although the whales are gregarious, each one lives on its own, constantly looking for food. To do this, they dive as deep as possible, collect a full mouth of water, then swim out, releasing huge water fountains. They emerge in an interesting way: first, a gigantic head appears outside, then part of the body. Then the whale, turning over on its side, falls sharply on him.
Like any mammal, the whale sometimes sleeps - before falling asleep, it rises as high as possible and falls asleep. The body, which has a good supply of fat, perfectly keeps on the water surface. Over time, it slowly sinks down. Having reached a certain depth, the whale strikes with its tail, rises up and everything repeats until the fish sleeps.
Food
The diet of bowhead whales is animal, it includes small crustaceans and crustaceans, fry, caviar, zooplankton, krill, sometimes bottom organisms come across. The process of eating looks like this: the whale descends to a depth, opens its mouth wide and swims, filtering the water that has entered its mouth. Within a minute, a whale can filter out up to 50,000 organisms. The contents settling on the mustache are immediately sent to the stomach with the help of the tongue. To feel full, a whale needs about two tons of food per day.
By autumn, whales accumulate a huge layer of fat, which helps them survive until spring and not die of hunger.
reproduction
Whales are polygamous, males become sexually mature at about 21-22 years old. And in this matter, females overtake the male sex - puberty comes to them a few years earlier. The mating season begins at the end of February, males attract females by singing songs of their own composition. And every season they come up with new ones.
Pregnancy lasts 13-15 months, next spring, most often in May, a baby whale is born. The baby is round, like a barrel, a little lighter than the parents, the body length of the newborn is 4.3-5.3 meters. The cub grows one and a half centimeters a day, while the mother feeds milk. It is similar in density to toothpaste and very oily - more than 50 percent. Mother-feeding lasts a little over a year.
The parent behaves like a very caring mother, being always next to the child, feeding him and protecting him from dangers. Seeing an enemy nearby (say, a killer whale), an angry mother drives her away, striking with her long tail.
Whales and Ecosystem
The role of the bowhead whale in the ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean is important - it acts as a regulator of zooplankton.
Economic importance, pros and cons
Cetaceans have always been of great value to humans - from time immemorial, whalers have beaten whales and obtained meat, whale oil and quite valuable whalebone. Possessing large sizes, the polar whale gives all this in large quantities. Many local residents living in the northern regions (for example, the Eskimos) were highly dependent on these animals, because thanks to them they had food, fuel and could make tools of labor.
Minuses
The only negative factor can only be called cases when animals passing by prevented a person from catching and harvesting fish - they frightened and drove away shoals. Sometimes it happened that the whales collided with boats and fishing boats and fell into nets not intended for them.
How long do whales live
The bowhead whale has the longest lifespan of any mammal. So, the average age of the killed individuals was 70-80 years, and after studying the nucleus of the eyes, zoologists came to the conclusion that these animals easily live up to two hundred years, since there are very few diseases in the world that shorten these beauties life.
Whale Conservation
Since the 17th century, when people began to massively kill whales for good money, a lot of individuals of all species have been destroyed. In the 70s of the 20th century, whales were listed in the Red Book as an endangered species and began to be protected by law. Currently, hunting for animals is strictly limited.
Despite their very impressive size, these giant animals are very frightened. If a whale drifts on the surface of the sea and some bird - a cormorant or a seagull - takes a fancy to its back as a perch, then the giant immediately dives deep into the waters and waits for the birds to fly away.Their vision is disgusting, the scent is the same - whales do not smell.
The speed of the whale is low - about twenty kilometers per hour.
Sometimes among the whales there are cases of pseudohermaphroditism - this is when the females begin to form the genital organs inherent in men.
Whales, due to their huge size, have no enemies - not a single predator wants to mess with such a giant. The only ones who sometimes try to encroach on animals are killer whales.
Video: bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus)
Marine hunters in Chukotka have harpooned a bowhead whale for the first time in three years, in addition to 123 smaller gray whales caught this season, said Yury Tototto, executive director of the Union of Marine Hunters of Chukotka. The first bowhead whale in Chukotka since 2010 was caught by sea hunters from the village of Sireniki.
A complete ban on the production of whales listed in the Red Book has been in force since 1947. Their fishing, which is not profitable, is allowed only for the indigenous people of Chukotka to maintain traditional economic activities and preserve their identity. Whale meat is also an important part of the diet of coastal villagers.
In accordance with the new rules for aboriginal whale hunting adopted by the International Whaling Commission, from this year Chukotka has been allocated a quota of 720 gray and 30 bowhead whales for six years.
For this year, we agreed to leave the previous order and distributed among the communities 134 gray and 2 bowhead whales (another gray and three bowhead whales are in reserve). 123 gray whales have already been delivered to the shore, divided among the indigenous people or laid down for storage. At the same time, the regional budget subsidizes the cost of harvesting 122 animals, the source added. He clarified that the whalers of the region could get more, but now the volume of production for all types of marine mammals fully satisfies the needs of the northerners.
Now in Chukotka there are 8 territorial-neighboring communities of marine hunters, in which about 325 fishers work.
Due to their huge size and mass, reaching up to 40-45 tons, it is very difficult to transport the Greenlanders, pull them ashore and butcher them. It is no coincidence that the main emphasis is traditionally placed on the production of not so large, although more aggressive gray whales.
What are whales
149 - sperm whale
(149a general view, 149b tail shape, 149c front fountain, 149d silhouette and side fountain);
150 - gray whale(150a general view, 150b tail shape, 150c front fountain, 150d diving silhouette);
152 - bowhead whale(152a general view, 152b tail shape, 152c front fountain, 152d silhouette and side fountain);
153 - southern right whale;
154 - hunchback(154a general view, 154b tail shape, 154c front fountain, 154d dive silhouette).
The bowhead whale is the most vulnerable mammal in Russia
- How long does a bowhead whale live
The bowhead whale is a long-liver, many individuals live for more than a hundred and even up to two hundred years. This is the only baleen whale species that spends its entire life in polar waters. According to available data, at the end of August the bowhead whale population migrates from the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk to its southwestern part and passes along the northern part of the West Kamchatka shelf.
- The size of the bowhead whale
The size of the whale is incredibly large, the bowhead whale can be considered the largest animal on earth. An adult weighs about 72-91 tons, while I have a length of 16-18.5 m. The female is larger than the male, however, all baleen whales have this feature. The skin of the bowhead whale is usually black with a white stripe on the underside of the snout. Kittens are dark blue in color. The bowhead whale does not have a dorsal fin. It has 2 short narrow fins, and a caudal fin eight meters wide.
- What do bowhead whales eat
Bowhead whales feed seasonally, filtering out plankton and very small crustaceans such as krill, copepods, pteropods and others. They swim slowly with their mouths open, constantly feeding. Sometimes they feed from the bottom, filtering mud from the bottom of the ocean. The baleen has a huge filtering capacity, it is able to filter very small crustaceans from the water mass. The bowhead whale has about 350 pairs of platforms on its jaws, from which the "bristles" of the whalebone, which have a silvery color, hang down. These whales have the longest and at the same time the smallest baleen of all whales, about 4.5 meters long and only 36 cm wide.
- How bowhead whales breathe
- How bowhead whales move
- How bowhead whales breed
- Bowhead whales in Russia
The bowhead whale is a mammal belonging to the order Cetaceans, the family Smooth whales. In Latin, it is called Balaena mysticetus. There was a time when populations of these animals lived in the oceans of the entire Northern Hemisphere.
However, today they are found only in the Bering and in the area of the Svalbard archipelago, Davis Strait and Hudson Bay. According to scientists, the total number of these mammals does not exceed 10,000 individuals.
The bowhead whale is second in size only to the blue whale. Its length can exceed 20 m, of which the head accounts for a third. Weight can reach up to 130 tons. Interestingly, females are larger than males. The color is predominantly dark, only under the lower jaw there is a large white spot.
The structure of the oral cavity is specific, associated with the way of nutrition. On the curved jaws there are numerous plates (up to 400 pieces) with a height of more than 4 m and a width of less than 0.3 m, called whalebones. The bowhead whale feeds on plankton and small fish. When getting food, he swims with his mouth open. Anything that gets stuck on the plates is scraped off with the tongue and swallowed. The mass of food eaten daily is estimated at 1.8 tons.
Its pectoral fins are shortened, widened, and rounded. The bowhead whale has smooth skin. The photos presented in the article demonstrate the absence of horny growths and attached crustaceans. Subcutaneous fat in an adult is about 70 cm. It is very important, because it neutralizes excess during immersion and protects against hypothermia. Their body temperature is normally the same as that of humans (they are also mammals). The eyes are small with a thickened cornea. From exposure to salt water, they are protected by special glands that secrete an oily liquid. Vision in the water is poor, better on the surface.
The bowhead whale is able to dive to a depth of 0.2 km and emerge after 40 minutes. The time spent underwater depends on the amount of air in the lungs. Its nostrils are located at the top of the head, they open only at the moment of inhalation-exhalation, the muscles of the nasal canal prevent water from entering the lungs. The whale begins to exhale at the surface of the water, the result of this is a fountain, the height of which can exceed 10 m. The need to inhale air forces these mammals to break through an ice thickness of 25 cm.
There is no auricle, but hearing is very well developed. perceives both sound and ultrasonic vibrations. The range of sounds produced is wide. The bowhead whale has a sonar that allows you to navigate well in the ocean. The time between the sound produced and its return indicates to the animal the distance to a certain object on the way.
Sometimes a polar whale (as this giant is also called) jumps out of the water, flaps its fins on the body and plunges onto one of its sides. Such attractions occur during the migration period and during the mating season.
Reproduction is not well understood, although gestation is known to last approximately 13 months. The cub is born 4 meters. During the year, he feeds on mother's milk. Whales become sexually mature by the age of 20. They live an average of 40 years.