AnAge entry for Balaena mysticetus

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

These animals exhibit slow growth and high survival. Growth may be faster in females than in males, and it slows down markedly at around 40-50 years of age. Sexual maturity is probably reached at age 20-25. Using an indirect method for age estimation based on aspartic acid racemization, the bowhead whale has been recorded as the longest-lived mammal thanks to one male estimated to be 211 years-old. The same study found three other male specimens estimated to be over 100 years of age. Very few obvious signs of pathology were found in old bowheads. The 211 year-old specimen was reported to appear old with though meat and blubber. One of the centenarian males exhibited a spondylitic lesion on the vertebra. Reproductive senescence has not been reported, though detailed studies are lacking [0021].

Life history traits (averages)

Metabolism

References

[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0447] Pieter Folkens et al. (2002), National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World
[0021] George et al. (1999), Age and growth estimates of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) via aspartic acid racemization
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0538] Don Wilson and Sue Ruff (1999), The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0049] John Burns et al. (1993), The Bowhead Whale
[0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction

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