A Whale of a Time Capsule

Category: Animalia • Wow!
Posted on: June 14, 2007 5:03 PM, by "GrrlScientist"

This bomb lance fragment, patented in 1879, was removed from the neck of a male bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus, killed near Barrow, Alaska, in May 2007. The shiny scars are the result of a chain saw cut.

Here's an interesting twist to a sad story: In May of this year, eskimos killed a 49-foot male bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus, off the coast of Alaska and unexpectedly discovered that he had survived a similar hunt more than a century ago. While butchering the whale's body with a chainsaw, they found that he was carrying a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped bomb lance fragment (top) that was embedded 13 centimenters under the blubber in his neck, providing researchers with rare insight into this individual's age, which was estimated to be between 115 and 130 years old.