Whales, the largest animals on Earth, are also among the longest-lived. A recent analysis has revealed that right whales can live for more than 130 years, which is almost double the previous estimate.
Right whales, filter-feeding baleen whales, were nearly hunted to extinction during the peak of the whaling industry. Due to this, some fundamental information about them, such as their lifespan, remained unknown.
Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks utilized 40 years’ worth of data from right whale identification programs to answer some of these questions. The study focused on the Southern right whale and the North Atlantic right whale.
By analyzing this data, the researchers created survivorship curves to estimate the average lifespan and maximum lifespan of each population. Contrary to previous beliefs, Southern right whales were found to have a median lifespan of around 73 years, with some individuals living past 132 years.
On the other hand, North Atlantic right whales had a median lifespan of only 22 years, with few making it past 47 years. The team attributes this to factors like entanglement in fishing gear, ship strikes, and starvation.
It was also noted that the maximum lifespans of both whale species were underestimated due to historical whaling practices. The research underscores the importance of understanding whale aging at both individual and community levels, as older individuals play a crucial role in teaching survival skills to younger generations.
The study was published in Science Advances.
Source: University of Alaska Fairbanks
