Did you ever have a pain in the neck that just wouldn’t go away? Some poor bowhead whale was lanced with a weapon by some whalers 115-130 years ago and has carried a fragment in its neck ever since. Well at least until last week where this whale got caught in another whale hunt off the coast of Alaska and didn’t get away this time.
Who knew whales lived for so long? Marine biologists probably, but not me.
I first hear the story on NPR and the read about on BBC News via Found History. It’s a cool story so I needed to share it here.
All of this is a good excuse to visit the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
Panorama of the Mountains 
Do you think the person who threw that harpoon was singing “All for Me Grog”?
LikeLike
In other news about sharp implements being lodged in body parts for long periods of time, scientists finally prove that Oetzi did indeed die of his arrow wound.
LikeLike
Oops. I made a mistake when trying to post the Oetzi link. Try this.
All of which proves that for man, life is brutish and short, while for whales life is brutish and long, very long.
LikeLike