A new study reveals that southern right whales can live for more than 130 years, shattering previous estimates. This discovery, based on decades of photo identification data, highlights the impressive longevity of these ocean giants.
North Atlantic Right Whale #3720 and her calf. This still image is from a drone video taken by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources under NOAA Permit 20556. (Georgia Department of Natural Resources/TNS) Southern right whales can live to be more than 130 years old — which is decades longer than previously thought, according to new research.To reach their conclusion, researchers pored over photo identification data collected over the course of four decades.
Data from both southern right whales and North Atlantic right whales, a subspecies that live along the east coast of North America and is also endangered, was used. The researchers found that southern right whales — which were once believed to live up to 80 years — can in fact live longer than 130 years, and possibly as long as 150 years. They estimated that more than 1 in 10 survive past 130 years, meaning there are likely some alive today that were born before 1894.“We didn’t know how to age baleen whales until 1955, which was the very end of industrial whaling,” University of Alaska Fairbanks associate professor Greg Breed said in the news release. “By the time we figured it out, there weren’t many old whales left to study. So we just assumed they didn’t live that long.” The researchers also revealed that North Atlantic right whales, in contrast, have significantly shorter lifespans, with only a smaller number living past 50 years. But, this dramatic distinction is likely due to human impacts, not any inherent biological differences. North Atlantic right whales are “frequently tangled in fishing gear or struck by ships, and they suffer from starvation, potentially linked to environmental changes we don’t fully understand,” Breed said.The study indicates that multiple baleen whale species benefit from extremely long lifespans. Bowhead whales — cousins of right whales — can also live incredibly long lives, with some surviving for two centurie
Whales Longevity Southern Right Whales North Atlantic Right Whales Lifespan
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