Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Bowhead Whale |
Bowhead WhaleNoun1. Large-mouthed arctic whale. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Synonym: Bowhead WhaleSynonym: bowhead (n). (additional references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
| Bowhead Whale | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||||
| Eubalaena mysticetus |
The Bowhead Whale (Eubalaena mysticetus, also known as Greenland Right Whale or Arctic Whale) is a marine mammal of the order Cetacea.
Breeding has been observed from March through August; conception is believed to occur primarily in March. Reproduction can begin when a whale is 10 to 15 years old. Females produce a calf once every 3 to 4 years, after a 13 to 14 month pregnancy. The newborn calf is about 4.5 m long and approximately 1000 kg, growing to 9 m by its first birthday. The lifespan of a bowhead was once thought to be 60 to 70 years, similar to other whales. However, discoveries of antique ivory spearpoints in living whales in 1993, 1995 and 1999 have triggered further research based on structures in the whale's eye, leading to the reliable conclusion that at least some individuals have lived to be 150-200 years old. Bowhead Whales May Be the World's Oldest Mammals
Commercial whaling, the principal cause of the decline, has been discontinued. The stock off Alaska has increased since commercial whaling ceased. Alaskan natives continue to take small numbers of bowhead whales in subsistence hunts each year. This level of harvest (25-40 animals annually) is not expected to affect the stock's recovery. The Bowhead Whale population of Alaska's coast appears to be recovering but remains at about 7,800 animals (1990), roughly 41 percent of the pre-whaling population. The status of the other bowhead stocks is less well known. These stocks are thought to be very small, probably in the low hundreds, for a possible worldwide population of 8,000-9,200 individuals.
The bowhead is one of the most seriously endangered of all the large whales, and is lsted as such by CITES.
Description
They are robust-bodied, dark-colored animals with no dorsal fin and a strongly bowed lower jaw and narrow upper jaw. The baleen plates of Bowhead Whales, which are used to strain tiny prey from the water, are the longest of any baleen whale, exceeding 3 meters. They have massively bony skulls which they use to break through the ice to breathe. Some Inuit hunters have reported whales surfacing through 2 feet (60 centimeters) of ice. Bowheads may reach lengths of up to 20 meters; females are larger than males. The blubber layer of the bowhead whale is thicker than in any other animal, averaging 43-50cm (17-20in).
Where They Live
Bowhead Whales are the only baleen whales that spend their entire lives in and around Arctic waters. The Bowhead Whales found off Alaska spend the winter months in the southwestern Bering Sea. They migrate northward in the spring, following openings in the pack ice, into the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, hunting krill and zooplankton. Bowheads are slow swimmers and usually travel alone or in small herds of up to six animals. Although they may stay below the water surface for as long as forty minutes in a single dive, they are not thought to be deep divers. Reproduction and Lifespan
Bowhead Whales are highly vocal and use underwater sounds to communicate while traveling, feeding, and socializing. Some Bowheads produce long repetitive songs that may be mating displays. They also breach, tail slap, and spy-hop. Sexual activity occurs between pairs and in boisterous groups of several males and one or two females. Population Status
Bowhead Whales have been hunted for their blubber, meat, oil, bones and baleen. They are closely related to the right whale and share with it the hunting-friendly characteristics of slow swimming and floating after death. Before commercial whaling, there were over 50,000 Bowhead Whales in the north polar region (estimated). Commercial whaling starting in 1611 near Greenland and wiped out herds of the slow growing whales, then moved on to new areas. In the North Pacific, the commercial fishery began in the mid-1800s, and within two decades over 60 percent of the Bowhead Whale population had been killed. Bowhead whales, along with the other large whale species, are an endangered species. Range, Behavior and Predation
The Bowhead spends all of its life in fertile Arctic waters, unlike other whales that migrate for feeding or reproduction. Bowheads are social and non-aggressive, and will retreat under the ice when threatened. Their predators are Killer Whales and Man.See also
External Links
Bowhead Whale: Detailed Information from NOAA
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Bowhead Whale."
Crosswords: Bowhead Whale |
| English words defined with "bowhead whale": Polar whale. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Bowhead whale - Balaena mysticetus. Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). |  | Fig. 1. The sperm whale. Fig. 2. The California gray whale. Fig. 3 The North Pacific humpback whale. Fig. 4. The sulphur-bottom whale Fig. 5. The finback or Oregon finner Fig. 6. The Pacific right whale Fig. 7. The bowhead whale. From Report U. S. Fish Commission, 1876 Natural History in Section I of this report. Credit: National Marine Fisheries Historical Image Collection. |
 | Plate 8. Illustrating the use of the whalebone plates in the mouth of the Bowhead Whale. Credit: National Marine Fisheries Historical Image Collection. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
bowhead whale | 42 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-b-d-e-e-h-h-l-o-w-w" | |
-4 letters: behowled, wadeable. | |
-5 letters: boweled, bowhead, dowable, elbowed, hewable, wadable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)42 6F 77 68 65 61 64 57 68 61 6C 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000010 01101111 01110111 01101000 01100101 01100001 01100100 00100000 01010111 01101000 01100001 01101100 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)B o w h e a d   W h a l e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0042 006F 0077 0068 0065 0061 0064 0057 0068 0061 006C 0065 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3681897471677025774677871 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Anagrams | 9. Orthography 10. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Note to the press & webmasters - this dictionary can be linked, indexed, or referred to using the following non-English expressions: woordeboek, fjalor, معجم, قاموس, diccionariu, речник, diccionari, diksyonario, diksinario, 字典, gérlyver, slovník, ordbog, woordenboek, shimiyuc p'anca, orðabók, orðbók, dictionnaire, wurdboek, wörterbuch, λεξικό, אוצר מילים, szótár, uqausiit tukingit, dizionario, 字引 , じい, じびき, じて", ディクショナリー , じり", じしょ, '"かい, ディクショナリ , 사 , dizionari, recnik, fockleyr, dikshonario, słownik, dicionário, dicţionar, dicziunari, словарь, lolomi fefiloi, foclair, abardair, faclair, briathrachan, pukuntau, leksikon, rečnik, vocabbulariu, diccionario, sí-chazamagâma, ordbok, lexikon, พจนานุกรม, sözlük, ansiklopedik sözlük, словник, довідник, có tính chất sách vở, geirlyfr, geiriadur, for dictionary; definisie, qartësi, përcaktim, saktësi, الوضوحية في الشيء, حد, تحديد, تعريف, التحديد, الإيضاحية, яснота, сила, очертания, дефиниция, 定義 , 定义, definice, deskriptordefinition, definitie, määritelmä, définition, ορισμός, "'"ר", "'בל", meghatározás, definíció, definizione, 確定 , ディーゼル電気車 , デ'ドロ酢酸 , デフィニション , ディフィニション , ていぎ, かくてい, 의, geyrid, meenaghey, keeayllaght, baght, definishon, definição, definiţie, determinare, definire, определение, definicija, definición, definition, açıklama, belirleme, belirtme, kesinleştirme, tanım, tarif, seçiklik, tanımlama, чіткість, тлумачення, виразність, визначення, дефініція, ясність, чітка чутність, sự định rõ, sự định nghĩa, lời định nghĩa sự định, diffiniad, darnodiad, for definition; vertaling, transferim, transmetim, ترجمة من لغة أجنبية للغة الأم, ترجمة, إفتتان, транслация, огъване, превод, предаване, поддаване, тълкуване, превеждане, 翻译, překlad, oversættelse, translatie, taajuusmuutos, translaatio, traduction, oersetting, Übersetzung, μετάφραση, תור'מ ות, תר'ום, "עתק", "עתק, fordítás, traduzione, 翻訳 , へい"ういどう, やくしょ, やくしゅつ, "うどく, ほ"やく, トランスレーション , やくじゅつ, ほ"やくしょ, 번역, tradukshon, tradução, translaţie, tãlmãcire, traducere, сдвиг, трансляция, перемещение, перевод, tumačenje, traducción, översättning, tercüme, процес перекладу, переклад, пояснення, переміщення, sự dịch, sự biến th nh sự giải thích, trosiad, for translation; |
