(Press-News.org) New research published in Science Advances reveals that right whales can survive for more than 130 years — almost twice as long as previously understood.
Extreme longevity is a trait common to the right whales’ cousins, the bowheads.
Scientists working with Indigenous subsistence hunters in Utqiaġvik used chemical analysis of harvested bowhead whales to show they can live more than 200 years. Corroborating the chemical evidence, hunters have recovered 19th-century harpoon tips from bowheads taken in modern hunts.
Right whales, which are much more closely related to bowhead whales than any other species, appear to exhibit similar lifespans. Like bowheads, right whales filter feed through baleen and migrate seasonally to give birth. Whalers considered them the “right” whales to hunt due to their thick blubber, which caused them to float when killed.
The current study examined four decades of data collected by photo identification programs tracking individual whales from two species: the Southern right whale, which lives in the oceans south of the equator, and the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, found along the Atlantic coast of North America. Researchers used the data to construct survivorship curves — graphs that show the proportion of a population that survives to each age — similar to those used by insurance companies to calculate human life expectancies.
Analysis revealed that Southern right whales, once thought to live only 70 to 80 years, can exceed lifespans of 130 years, with some individuals possibly reaching 150 years. In contrast, the study found the average lifespan of the North Atlantic right whale is just 22 years, with very few individuals surviving past the age of 50.
According to University of Alaska Fairbanks associate professor Greg Breed, the stark contrast in lifespans between these two closely related species is primarily due to human impacts. Breed is the study’s lead author.
“North Atlantic whales have unusually short lifespans compared to other whales, but this isn’t because of intrinsic differences in biology, and they should live much longer,” he said. “They’re 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 has spent years studying marine mammals, including seals, certain species of which can live up to 50 years, and narwhals, with lifespans of a century or more. He noted that a lack of data on whale aging led to significant underestimations of their lifespans in the past.
“We didn’t know how to age baleen whales until 1955, which was the very end of industrial whaling,” Breed said. “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 study has important implications for conservation efforts. “To attain healthy populations that include old animals, recovery might take hundreds of years,” Breed said. “For animals that live to be 100 or 150 and only give birth to a surviving calf every 10 years or so, slow recovery is to be expected.”
The study also underscores the importance of cultural knowledge among whale populations.
“There’s a growing recognition that recovery isn’t just about biomass or the number of individuals. It’s about the knowledge these animals pass along to the next generation,” Breed said.
“That knowledge isn’t just genetic — it’s cultural and behavioral. Older individuals teach survival skills. Younger animals learn by observing and copying the strategies of the older ones.”
The loss of older individuals disrupts this critical transfer of knowledge and can impair the survival of the young.
Breed and his colleagues intend to extend their research to other whale populations and predict whether other whale species currently thought to live around 80 years may also have much longer lifespans. They hope to learn more about how whaling affected the number of old individuals in current whale populations and predict when their numbers will recover to pre-whaling levels.
END
Study reveals right whales live 130 years — or more
2024-12-20
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Researchers reveal how human eyelashes promote water drainage
2024-12-20
Throughout human evolution, body and facial hair have notably diminished, yet eyelashes have remained a distinguishing feature. The physiological or functional purpose of eyelashes—traditionally thought to be for catching dust or filtering air, etc.—has long been debated.
However, a team of Chinese researchers has recently elucidated the characteristics of human eyelashes. Their study reveals that eyelashes consist of a hydrophobic, curved, flexible fiber array, featuring ...
Pollinators most vulnerable to rising global temperatures are flies, study shows
2024-12-20
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Despite their reputation as buzzing nuisances, flies serve a critical role as some of the Earth’s most prolific pollinators — and new research led by Penn State scientists suggests they are increasingly at risk due to rising global temperatures.
In a study recently published in the Journal of Melittology, an international team of researchers looked at the heat tolerance for a variety of species of bees and flies in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. Their findings suggest that rising temperatures pose a greater threat to flies than bees, as bees can tolerate much higher temperatures than flies and have a ...
DFG to fund eight new research units
2024-12-20
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is establishing eight new Research Units. This was decided by the DFG Joint Committee on the recommendation of the Senate. The new Research Units will receive total funding of approximately €30 million, including a 22-percent programme allowance for indirect project costs. In addition to these eight newly created Research Units, it was decided to extend two Research Units and one Clinical Research Unit for a second funding period. Two of the newly established Research Units and one that has been extended receive funding under the framework of the ...
Modern AI systems have achieved Turing's vision, but not exactly how he hoped
2024-12-20
A recent perspective published Nov. 13 in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal, asserts that today's artificial intelligence systems have finally realized Alan Turing's vision from over 70 years ago: machines that can genuinely learn from experience and engage in human-like conversation. Authored by Bernardo Gonçalves from the University of São Paulo and University of Cambridge, the paper also sheds light on how current energy-hungry transformer-based systems contrast with Turing's prophecy of machines that would develop intelligence naturally, like human children.
Gonçalves' ...
Quantum walk computing unlocks new potential in quantum science and technology
2024-12-20
Quantum walks are a powerful theoretical model using quantum effects such as superposition, interference and entanglement to achieve computing power beyond classical methods. A research team at the National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology from the Academy of Military Sciences (China) recently published a review article that thoroughly summarizes the theories and characteristics, physical implementations, applications and challenges of quantum walks and quantum walk computing. The review was published Nov. 13 in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal, in an article titled “Quantum Walk Computing: Theory, Implementation, and Application”.
As ...
Construction materials and household items are a part of a long-term carbon sink called the “technosphere”
2024-12-20
We know a lot about how much fossil-derived carbon is emitted to the atmosphere but less about how much is stored in human-made products. In a study publishing December 20 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Sustainability, ecological economists estimate that each year, humans add around 400 million tons of fossil carbon to long-lasting products such as plastics, buildings, and human infrastructure. Although these products could be considered a “carbon sink,” proper waste management is essential ...
First demonstration of quantum teleportation over busy Internet cables
2024-12-20
Northwestern University engineers are the first to successfully demonstrate quantum teleportation over a fiberoptic cable already carrying Internet traffic.
The discovery introduces the new possibility of combining quantum communication with existing Internet cables — greatly simplifying the infrastructure required for distributed quantum sensing or computing applications.
The study will be published on Friday (Dec. 20) in the journal Optica.
“This is incredibly exciting because nobody thought it was possible,” said Northwestern’s Prem Kumar, who led the study. “Our work ...
Disparities and gaps in breast cancer screening for women ages 40 to 49
2024-12-20
About The Study: The findings of this cross-sectional study underscore significant disparities and gaps in biennial mammography screening for women ages 40 to 49. Two-fifths of women in this age group did not receive biennial screening. Lower biennial screening rates were observed among racial and ethnic minority populations, sexual minority populations, rural residents, and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. To optimize early breast cancer detection, ensuring equitable adherence to U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations is crucial.
Corresponding Author: To ...
US tobacco 21 policies and potential mortality reductions by state
2024-12-20
About The Study: This study found that early adoption and implementation of Tobacco 21 (T21) policies (minimum age of 21 for legal access to tobacco products) maximizes potential premature mortality reductions. However, the strength of T21 policies and enforcement varies widely across states. Enforcement of the federal T21 law is critical in the 8 states without state-level T21 cigarette policies of their own.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jamie Tam, PhD, email jamie.tam@yale.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...
AI-driven approach reveals hidden hazards of chemical mixtures in rivers
2024-12-20
Artificial intelligence can provide critical insights into how complex mixtures of chemicals in rivers affect aquatic life – paving the way for better environmental protection.
A new approach, developed by researchers at the University of Birmingham, demonstrates how advanced artificial intelligence (AI) methods can help identify potentially harmful chemical substances in rivers by monitoring their effects on tiny water fleas (Daphnia).
The team worked with scientists at the Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), in China, and the Hemholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), in Germany, to analyse ...