AnimalvsAnimal
Bowhead 1 Kate Stafford edit (16272151841) (cropped)🐾

Photo: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve · CC BY-SA 2.0

SpeciesCetaceaBalaenidae
Marine mammals

🐾Bowhead whale

Balaena mysticetus Linnaeus, 1758

Grønlandshvalen (Balaena mysticetus) er en bardehval i familien af rethvaler. Grønlandshvalen bliver 18 meter lang og vejer op til 100 ton. Bestandens størrelse er usikker men formentlig på 6–12.000 individer. Den lever i det arktiske Stillehav og Beauforthavet. Grønlandshvalen regnes for det pattedyr, som bliver ældst. De menes at kunne blive op til 150-200 år gamle. Der er fanget grønlandshvaler med harpunspidser siddende i, som var fra slutningen af 1800-tallet. Grønlandshvalen er også den hval der får de største barder, de kan blive op til 5.2 meter lange. Arten var delvis forsvundet fra området omkring Grønland, men er nu dukket op igen, sandsynligvis på grund af klimaforandringer og dermed åbning af nordvestpassagen, som er isfri for første gang i 125.000 år. Bestanden i området øst for Grønland har status som kritisk truet. Grønlandshvalen regnes nu også blandt de hvaler, som kan synge. Ifølge ny forskning, og som den eneste hval, er den flerstemmig og synger nye sange hvert år. Man mener det er hannen der synger, for at imponere hunnen.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
2
Measurements
10
vs you
≈ 1,290× your weight
Also called
Arctic Right Whale, Bowhead, Greenland Right Whale
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
80,000 kg
Body length
14 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
211 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Bowhead whale

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
80,000 kgrecord 100,000 kg · SeaLifeBase
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 100,000 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
14 m
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Female20 mSeaLifeBasev25.04

Figures vary

  • 18 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Maximum lifespan
211 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 211 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
52 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
17 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
1.0 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1.1 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
1
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Carnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
80,000 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Bowhead whale yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCetacea
  5. ›familyBalaenidae
  6. ›genusBalaena
  7. ›speciesBalaena mysticetus
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
  3. infraorderWhales & dolphins · Cetacea
  4. genusBalaena
All 15 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
  12. suborderWhippomorpha
  13. infraorderWhales & dolphins · Cetacea
  14. familyBalaenidae
  15. genusBalaena
More

More about the Bowhead whale

Closest relative on this site
🐋 Sei whale — last shared an ancestor ≈ 3.3 million years ago.
What it eats
insects and other invertebrates100%
In other languages
Grönlandwal (de), Balaena mysticetus (es), Baleine boréale (fr), grønlandshval (nb), Wal grenlandzki (pl), 북극고래 (ko) … and 26 more languages
More photos
Bowhead 1 Kate Stafford edit (16272151841)Bowhead 1 Kate Stafford edit (16272151841) (cropped)
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