---
title: "What the sources say about the Bowhead Whale | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "54 claims from the Bowhead Whale profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bowhead-whale/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Bowhead Whale (*Balaena mysticetus*)

> 54 claims from the Bowhead Whale profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Bowhead Whale](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bowhead-whale/)

## Bowhead Whale. NOAA Fisheries.

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/bowhead-whale

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A bow-shaped skull that breaks through sea ice | The bow-shaped skull can be over 16.5 feet long—about a third of a bowhead's body length. ... The bowhead's large, thick skull allows them to break through 8-inch-thick sea ice. (note: tagline; 'smash' and 'built to' replaced with the source's 'break through') |
| Arctic and subarctic seas with seasonal sea ice | reside almost exclusively in Arctic and subarctic waters experiencing seasonal sea ice coverage (note: stats.habitat, part 1 of 3; a habitat line, claims no exclusivity) |
| from the Bering and Chukchi seas to Baffin Bay | Bowhead whales inhabit the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas, Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, the Sea of Okhotsk, and in waters from eastern Greenland and Spitsbergen to eastern Siberia (note: stats.habitat, part 2 of 3) |
| mostly between 60° and 75° north latitude | primarily between 60° and 75° north latitude (note: stats.habitat, part 3 of 3) |
| Krill, copepods, other invertebrates and small fish | feed almost exclusively on marine invertebrates, including small to moderately sized crustaceans, such as shrimp-like euphausiids (i.e., krill) and copepods. They also ingest other invertebrates and small fish. (note: stats.diet; 'small' moved back onto fish as in the source; a list of foods, claims no exclusivity) |
| A bow-shaped skull about a third of its body length, large and thick enough to break through sea ice 8 inches thick | The bow-shaped skull can be over 16.5 feet long—about a third of a bowhead's body length. ... The bowhead's large, thick skull allows them to break through 8-inch-thick sea ice. (note: stats.superpower; 'dense' and 'breathing hole' cut, not in the source) |
| Bowhead whales (*Balaena mysticetus*) live almost exclusively in Arctic and subarctic seas | reside almost exclusively in Arctic and subarctic waters experiencing seasonal sea ice coverage (note: body; restores 'almost exclusively' and 'subarctic') |
| 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 | Bowhead whales inhabit the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas, Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, the Sea of Okhotsk, and in waters from eastern Greenland and Spitsbergen to eastern Siberia (note: body range list, a subset of NOAA's) |
| mostly between 60° and 75° north | primarily between 60° and 75° north latitude (note: body) |
| Adults can grow to 62 feet long and weigh up to 200,000 pounds | Weight Up to 200,000 pounds Length Up to 62 feet (note: body) |
| wrapped in a blubber layer 17 to 19 inches thick, thicker than any other whale's | a 17- to 19-inch thick blubber layer—thicker than that of any other whale (note: body) |
| 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 | The bow-shaped skull can be over 16.5 feet long—about a third of a bowhead's body length. (note: body; 'can' restored) |
| 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 | The bowhead's large, thick skull allows them to break through 8-inch-thick sea ice. Some Alaska Native whalers have even reported whales surfacing through 2 feet of ice. (note: body; 'lets' glosses 'allows them to') |
| A bowhead's mouth holds the longest baleen plates of any whale | Bowhead whales have the longest baleen plates of all whales (note: body) |
| It feeds by straining huge volumes of seawater through those plates, which work like the teeth of a comb | they filter their food by straining huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates (like the teeth of a comb) (note: body) |
| Its food is almost exclusively invertebrates, including crustaceans such as krill and copepods, along with some small fish | feed almost exclusively on marine invertebrates, including small to moderately sized crustaceans, such as shrimp-like euphausiids (i.e., krill) and copepods. They also ingest other invertebrates and small fish. (note: body; replaces 'mostly on krill and copepods, tiny drifting crustaceans') |
| Scientists estimate a bowhead needs to eat about 100 metric tons, more than 220,000 pounds, of prey a year | Scientists estimate that a bowhead whale needs to eat about 100 metric tons (over 220,000 pounds) of prey per year (note: body; 'just to keep its enormous body running' cut) |
| Stone harpoon tips recovered from harvested bowheads show these whales live well over 100 years, and newer techniques allow more precise age estimates | Based on the recovery of stone harpoon tips from harvested bowheads, it is evident that bowhead whales live well over 100 years. However, new techniques allow for more precise estimation of bowhead whale age (note: body; 'still lodged in the blubber' cut) |
| Commercial whaling for bowheads off Alaska began in the early 1800s | Commercial whaling for bowheads off Alaska began in the early 1800s (note: body; 'off Alaska' restored) |
| By the time it effectively ended in 1921, whaling had driven the worldwide population below 3,000 whales | By the time commercial whaling of bowheads effectively ended in 1921, the worldwide bowhead abundance had declined to less than 3,000 whales. ... Commercial whaling drove global abundance down to less than 3,000 by the 1920s. (note: body; 'driven' rests on the second sentence; 'below' glosses 'less than') |
| The Western Arctic stock, the only one in U.S. waters | The only stock found within U.S. waters is the Western Arctic stock (note: body) |
| has since recovered to about 15,229 whales by a 2019 estimate, and it is now the largest bowhead population in the world | Western Arctic bowheads have shown considerable recovery since the end of commercial whaling in the early 1900s, and they now comprise the largest population of bowheads in the world ... an ice based survey in spring 2019 and an aerial survey in summer 2019 , and indicates there are approximately 15,229 Western Arctic bowhead whales. (note: body; NOAA page updated 07/14/2026 calls this the current estimate) |
| the United States lists it as endangered under the Endangered Species Act | The bowhead whale is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. (note: body; NOAA page updated 07/14/2026) |
| The smaller Sea of Okhotsk population remains dangerously low, at only a few hundred whales | the smaller Okhotsk Sea population, more heavily exploited in the past, remains at a dangerously low population of only a few hundred individuals (note: body; no longer framed as the reason for the ESA listing) |
| Threats include climate change, vessel strikes, fishing-gear entanglement and predation | Threats Climate change, Contaminants, Entanglement in fishing gear, Ocean noise, Offshore oil and gas development, Predation, Vessel strikes (note: body; a subset of NOAA's list; 'mostly human-made' cut) |
| scars consistent with killer whale attacks turn up on about 8 percent of subsistence-hunted bowheads, and the recorded rate has increased each decade | Scars consistent with killer whale attacks were found on approximately 8 percent of subsistence hunted whales, and rates have increased each decade. This may be due to better reporting and/or sampling bias (note: body; 'recorded' keeps NOAA's reporting-bias caveat) |
| 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. | The bow-shaped skull can be over 16.5 feet long—about a third of a bowhead's body length. ... The bowhead's large, thick skull allows them to break through 8-inch-thick sea ice. Some Alaska Native whalers have even reported whales surfacing through 2 feet of ice. (note: faq 2; 'lets' glosses 'allows them to') |

## Balaena mysticetus (bowhead). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Balaena_mysticetus/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| baleen plates up to nearly 15 feet long | 300 baleen plates measuring 300-450 centimeters in vertical length (note: stats.diet; 450 cm = 14.76 ft. ADW 2002 is old, but NOAA gives no plate length and a size figure is exempt from the date rule) |
| about 300 of them, each up to nearly 15 feet long | 300 baleen plates measuring 300-450 centimeters in vertical length (note: body; 450 cm = 14.76 ft) |
| dangerLevel: Low | The only way in which Balaena mysticetus may interfere with humans is in marine fishing. The large bowhead whale has been known to collide with sailing vessels on rare occassions as well as get caught in nets (note: task #445; no source describes an injury to a person) |

## Keane et al. (2015). Insights into the Evolution of Longevity from the Bowhead Whale Genome. Cell Reports.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.008

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| DNA-repair genes that may help it resist cancer | we identify gene gain and loss involving genes associated with DNA repair, cell-cycle regulation, cancer, and aging ... suggest possible players involved in adaptive genetic changes conferring cancer resistance (note: tagline; 'may help' keeps the paper's 'suggest possible players') |
| a lifespan estimated at over two centuries | estimated to live over 200 years (note: tagline; 'estimated' restored from the source) |
| Bowheads are thought to be the longest-lived mammals known | suggesting it is the longest-lived mammal (note: body; 'thought to be' keeps 'suggesting') |
| One whale's age was estimated at around 211 years, give or take about 35 | estimated age of one specimen 211 SE 35 years (note: body; SE glossed as 'give or take') |
| A Thousand Times the Cells | large whales with over 1,000 times more cells than humans (note: blockquote lead, compared with humans as in the source) |
| 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 | large whales with over 1,000 times more cells than humans do not exhibit an increased cancer risk ( Caulin and Maley, 2011 ), suggesting the existence of natural mechanisms that can suppress cancer more effectively in these animals (note: blockquote) |
| Genome sequencing has pointed to possible players | suggest possible players involved in adaptive genetic changes conferring cancer resistance (note: body) |
| bowhead-specific mutations in ERCC1 | Bowhead-specific mutations in genes associated with cancer and aging (e.g., ERCC1) (note: body, first half) |
| a DNA-repair gene | ERCC1 is a member of the nucleotide excision repair pathway (note: body; ERCC1 as a repair gene) |
| a duplicated repair gene, PCNA | Duplications in genes associated with DNA repair, cell cycle, and aging (e.g., PCNA) (note: body) |
| with both copies switched on in the whale's muscle, kidney, retina and testis | proliferating cell nuclear antigen ( PCNA ) is duplicated in bowhead whales ... both PCNA copies are expressed in bowhead whale muscle, kidney, retina, and testis (note: body; 'switched on' glosses 'expressed') |
| Possibly longer than any other mammal | is estimated to live over 200 years and is possibly the longest-living mammal (note: faq 1 opener; 'longer than any other mammal' restates 'longest-living mammal', hedged with the paper's 'possibly') |
| 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 | estimated age of one specimen 211 SE 35 years), suggesting it is the longest-lived mammal (note: faq 1; 'genetic aging technique' cut: the estimate cited (George et al. 1999) used aspartic acid racemization) |
| Large whales carry over a thousand times more cells than a human yet show no increased cancer risk | large whales with over 1,000 times more cells than humans do not exhibit an increased cancer risk (note: faq 4; 'rate' changed back to 'risk') |
| The bowhead genome study found bowhead-specific mutations in a DNA-repair gene called ERCC1, plus a duplicated repair gene, PCNA | Bowhead-specific mutations in genes associated with cancer and aging (e.g., ERCC1) Duplications in genes associated with DNA repair, cell cycle, and aging (e.g., PCNA) (note: faq 4) |
| with both copies switched on | both PCNA copies are expressed in bowhead whale muscle, kidney, retina, and testis (note: faq 4) |
| The researchers suggest changes like these are possible players in the whale's cancer resistance | suggest possible players involved in adaptive genetic changes conferring cancer resistance (note: faq 4; replaces 'unusually effective built-in cancer defenses') |

## Simon et al. (2009). Behaviour and kinematics of continuous ram filtration in bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.1135

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Bowheads tagged off West Greenland swam at under one meter per second while feeding at depth | Using digital tags with three-axis accelerometers, we studied bowhead whales feeding off West Greenland ... moving at very slow speeds (less than 1 m s(-1)), allowing them to filter feed continuously at depth (note: body; study location restored) |
| yet pushed about 3 cubic meters of water through their baleen every second | Despite the slow speeds, the large mouth aperture provides a water filtration rate of approximately 3 m(3) s(-1) (note: body; 'every second' glosses s(-1)) |
| Over a single dive that works out to roughly 2,000 tonnes of water and prey filtered | amounting to some 2000 tonnes of water and prey filtered per dive (note: body; 'a single dive' glosses 'per dive') |
| A huge amount, despite a very slow swim | Despite the slow speeds, the large mouth aperture provides a water filtration rate of approximately 3 m(3) s(-1), amounting to some 2000 tonnes of water and prey filtered per dive (note: faq 3 opener; replaces 'surprisingly little effort', which the paper's high-drag conclusion contradicts; no figure stated, so the hedges on the figures don't apply) |
| 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. | Using digital tags with three-axis accelerometers, we studied bowhead whales feeding off West Greenland ... moving at very slow speeds (less than 1 m s(-1)), allowing them to filter feed continuously at depth. Despite the slow speeds, the large mouth aperture provides a water filtration rate of approximately 3 m(3) s(-1), amounting to some 2000 tonnes of water and prey filtered per dive (note: faq 3; 'walking pace' cut; 'every second' glosses s(-1); 'a single dive' glosses 'per dive') |

## Cooke & Reeves (2018). Balaena mysticetus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T2467A50347659.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2018-1.rlts.t2467a50347659.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The IUCN Red List rated the species Least Concern in 2018 | Least Concern (note: body; 2018 is the assessment year in the DOI; the writer's 'strong enough that' cause was cut) |

## Tervo et al. (2011). Evidence for simultaneous sound production in the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus). The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3628327

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A bowhead can make two sounds of different pitch at the same moment, a capability that may let it sing more complex songs. | strongly indicating that bowhead whales are capable of simultaneous dual frequency sound production. This capability may function to enable more complex singing (note: vibe.reason (task #990); 'two sounds of different pitch' glosses 'dual frequency') |