--- title: "Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "A bow-shaped skull that breaks through sea ice, DNA-repair genes that may help it resist cancer, and a lifespan estimated at over two centuries." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/bowhead-whale-1.webp" published: "2026-09-01" updated: "2026-09-29" --- # Bowhead Whale (*Balaena mysticetus*) > **Status**: Checked against 6 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: A bow-shaped skull that breaks through sea ice, DNA-repair genes that may help it resist cancer, and a lifespan estimated at over two centuries. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: South Asian Raga & Indian Fusion // Anoushka Shankar, "Pacifica" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/55VGEGacfrhX3o5sseRUCC) > **Vibe Match**: A bowhead can make two sounds of different pitch at the same moment, a capability that may let it sing more complex songs. Anoushka Shankar's sitar sounds in layers too: drone strings and sympathetic strings ring beneath the melody she plays on top. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Balaena mysticetus* - **Danger Level**: Low - **Conservation Status**: Least Concern ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2018-1.rlts.t2467a50347659.en)) - **Superpower**: A bow-shaped skull about a third of its body length, large and thick enough to break through sea ice 8 inches thick. - **Habitat**: Arctic and subarctic seas with seasonal sea ice, from the Bering and Chukchi seas to Baffin Bay, mostly between 60° and 75° north latitude - **Diet**: Krill, copepods, other invertebrates and small fish, filtered through baleen plates up to nearly 15 feet long - **Tags**: cetacean, ocean, arctic-tundra, filter-feeder ## Natural History & Behavior ## A Skull That Breaks Ice Bowhead whales (*Balaena mysticetus*) live almost exclusively in Arctic and subarctic seas: the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas, Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the waters from eastern Greenland and Spitsbergen to eastern Siberia, mostly between 60° and 75° north. Adults can grow to 62 feet long and weigh up to 200,000 pounds, wrapped in a blubber layer 17 to 19 inches thick, thicker than any other whale's. A bowhead's skull is bow-shaped and can run more than 16.5 feet long, about a third of the whale's body length. That large, thick skull lets it break through sea ice 8 inches thick, and some Alaska Native whalers have even reported whales surfacing through two feet of ice. ## Filtering the Ocean by the Tonne A bowhead's mouth holds the longest baleen plates of any whale, about 300 of them, each up to nearly 15 feet long. It feeds by straining huge volumes of seawater through those plates, which work like the teeth of a comb. Its food is almost exclusively invertebrates, including crustaceans such as krill and copepods, along with some small fish. Bowheads tagged off West Greenland swam at under one meter per second while feeding at depth, yet pushed about 3 cubic meters of water through their baleen every second. Over a single dive that works out to roughly 2,000 tonnes of water and prey filtered. Scientists estimate a bowhead needs to eat about 100 metric tons, more than 220,000 pounds, of prey a year. ## A Very Long Life Bowheads are thought to be the longest-lived mammals known. One whale's age was estimated at around 211 years, give or take about 35. Stone harpoon tips recovered from harvested bowheads show these whales live well over 100 years, and newer techniques allow more precise age estimates. > **A Thousand Times the Cells** Large whales carry over a thousand times more cells than a person does, yet show no increased cancer risk, which suggests natural mechanisms that suppress cancer more effectively. Genome sequencing has pointed to possible players: bowhead-specific mutations in ERCC1, a DNA-repair gene, and a duplicated repair gene, PCNA, with both copies switched on in the whale's muscle, kidney, retina and testis. ## Whaling and Recovery Commercial whaling for bowheads off Alaska began in the early 1800s. By the time it effectively ended in 1921, whaling had driven the worldwide population below 3,000 whales. The Western Arctic stock, the only one in U.S. waters, has since recovered to about 15,229 whales by a 2019 estimate, and it is now the largest bowhead population in the world. The IUCN Red List rated the species Least Concern in 2018, while the United States lists it as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The smaller Sea of Okhotsk population remains dangerously low, at only a few hundred whales. Threats include climate change, vessel strikes, fishing-gear entanglement and predation: scars consistent with killer whale attacks turn up on about 8 percent of subsistence-hunted bowheads, and the recorded rate has increased each decade. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How long can a bowhead whale actually live? Possibly longer than any other mammal. One bowhead's age was estimated at around 211 years, give or take about 35, and the researchers who sequenced the bowhead genome say that suggests it is the longest-lived mammal. *(Source: [Keane et al. 2015]())* ### How does a bowhead whale break through Arctic sea ice to breathe? With its skull. A bowhead's bow-shaped skull can be over 16.5 feet long, about a third of its body length, and that large, thick skull lets it break through sea ice 8 inches thick. Some Alaska Native whalers have even reported bowheads surfacing through two feet of ice. *(Source: [NOAA Fisheries]())* ### How much water does a bowhead whale filter for food? A huge amount, despite a very slow swim. Bowheads tagged off West Greenland swam at under one meter per second while feeding at depth, pushing roughly 3 cubic meters of water through their baleen every second. Over a single dive that adds up to around 2,000 tonnes of water and prey filtered. *(Source: [Simon et al. 2009]())* ### Why don't giant whales like the bowhead get more cancer than people do? Large whales carry over a thousand times more cells than a human yet show no increased cancer risk. The bowhead genome study found bowhead-specific mutations in a DNA-repair gene called ERCC1, plus a duplicated repair gene, PCNA, with both copies switched on. The researchers suggest changes like these are possible players in the whale's cancer resistance. *(Source: [Keane et al. 2015]())* ## Sources 1. [Bowhead Whale. NOAA Fisheries.]() 2. [Balaena mysticetus (bowhead). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]() 3. [Keane et al. (2015). Insights into the Evolution of Longevity from the Bowhead Whale Genome. Cell Reports.]() 4. [Simon et al. (2009). Behaviour and kinematics of continuous ram filtration in bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.]() 5. [Cooke & Reeves (2018). Balaena mysticetus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T2467A50347659.]() 6. [Tervo et al. (2011). Evidence for simultaneous sound production in the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus). The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.]() *Published September 1, 2026. Last updated September 29, 2026.* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bowhead-whale/#article", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#website" }, "headline": "Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus) | AnimalTracks.wiki", "description": "A bow-shaped skull that breaks through sea ice, DNA-repair genes that may help it resist cancer, and a lifespan estimated at over two centuries.", "image": [ "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/bowhead-whale-1.webp" ], "datePublished": "2026-09-01", "dateModified": "2026-09-29", "author": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "AnimalTracks.wiki Editorial Team", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki" } ], "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#organization", "name": "AnimalTracks.wiki", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png" } }, "mainEntityOfPage": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bowhead-whale/", "citation": [ { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Bowhead Whale", "url": "https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/bowhead-whale", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "NOAA Fisheries" } }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Balaena mysticetus (bowhead)", "url": "https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Balaena_mysticetus/", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan" } }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Insights into the Evolution of Longevity from the Bowhead Whale Genome", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.008", "author": "Keane et al.", "datePublished": "2015", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Cell Reports" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.008" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Behaviour and kinematics of continuous ram filtration in bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.1135", "author": "Simon et al.", "datePublished": "2009", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.1135" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Balaena mysticetus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T2467A50347659", "url": "https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2018-1.rlts.t2467a50347659.en", "author": "Cooke & Reeves", "datePublished": "2018", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species" }, "identifier": "doi:10.2305/iucn.uk.2018-1.rlts.t2467a50347659.en" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Evidence for simultaneous sound production in the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3628327", "author": "Tervo et al.", "datePublished": "2011", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1121/1.3628327" } ], "about": { "@type": "Taxon", "name": "Bowhead Whale", "scientificName": "Balaena mysticetus", "description": "A bow-shaped skull about a third of its body length, large and thick enough to break through sea ice 8 inches thick." } }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bowhead-whale/#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "How long can a bowhead whale actually live?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Possibly longer than any other mammal. One bowhead's age was estimated at around 211 years, give or take about 35, and the researchers who sequenced the bowhead genome say that suggests it is the longest-lived mammal.", "citation": { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Insights into the Evolution of Longevity from the Bowhead Whale Genome", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.008", "author": "Keane et al.", "datePublished": "2015", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Cell Reports" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.008" } } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How does a bowhead whale break through Arctic sea ice to breathe?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "With its skull. A bowhead's bow-shaped skull can be over 16.5 feet long, about a third of its body length, and that large, thick skull lets it break through sea ice 8 inches thick. Some Alaska Native whalers have even reported bowheads surfacing through two feet of ice.", "citation": { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Bowhead Whale", "url": "https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/bowhead-whale", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "NOAA Fisheries" } } } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How much water does a bowhead whale filter for food?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "A huge amount, despite a very slow swim. Bowheads tagged off West Greenland swam at under one meter per second while feeding at depth, pushing roughly 3 cubic meters of water through their baleen every second. Over a single dive that adds up to around 2,000 tonnes of water and prey filtered.", "citation": { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Behaviour and kinematics of continuous ram filtration in bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.1135", "author": "Simon et al.", "datePublished": "2009", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.1135" } } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why don't giant whales like the bowhead get more cancer than people do?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Large whales carry over a thousand times more cells than a human yet show no increased cancer risk. The bowhead genome study found bowhead-specific mutations in a DNA-repair gene called ERCC1, plus a duplicated repair gene, PCNA, with both copies switched on. The researchers suggest changes like these are possible players in the whale's cancer resistance.", "citation": { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Insights into the Evolution of Longevity from the Bowhead Whale Genome", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.008", "author": "Keane et al.", "datePublished": "2015", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Cell Reports" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.008" } } } ] }, { "@type": "MusicRecording", "name": "Pacifica", "byArtist": { "@type": "MusicGroup", "name": "Anoushka Shankar" }, "genre": "South Asian Raga & Indian Fusion", "url": "https://open.spotify.com/track/55VGEGacfrhX3o5sseRUCC" } ] } ```