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Matt J. Thorstensen, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba

Commercial whaling and climate change are inhibiting evolutionary change in Arctic whales

A bowhead whale mother and calf in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Bowhead whales were heavily affected by commercial whaling. (Caila Kucheravy), CC BY-NC

Bowhead whales are the longest-lived mammals on Earth with some able to live hundreds of years. What’s more, Inuit hunters have observed these whales breaking ice over half a metre thick – ice strong enough to support a fully-loaded semi truck.

The living ranges of the narwhal whales overlap with those of the bowheads in the Arctic. Narwhals were central to northern European mythology about the legendary unicorn due to their distinctive tusk.

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