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Nicholas Freymueller, Postdoctoral Researcher in Extinction Biology, Adelaide University

Centuries-old logbooks reveal how bowhead whales are recovering from near-extinction

An aerial view of a bowhead whale swimming near sea ice. By the time bowhead whaling was abandoned around 1914, there were likely fewer than 4,000 left. (Vicki Beaver/Alaska Fisheries Science Center)

Bowhead whales have the greatest life-span of any mammal on Earth. They can reach over 200 years in age thanks in part to their slow metabolism and cancer-suppressing genes.

They are far stockier and shorter than other large baleen whales, making them perfectly adapted to life among Arctic sea ice. Their bodies are dark, verging on black. The only exception to this is the front part of their lower lips, which shines brilliant white.

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