A 49-foot bowhead whale killed by Iñupiat hunters in May 2007 was found to have been carrying a Victorian-era harpoon in its shoulder for approximately 120 years, evidence that the whale was at least 115 years old at the time of its death, because bowhead whales are the longest-lived mammals on Earth, with peer-reviewed lifespan estimates exceeding 200 years

The discovery happened in the routine course of an Iñupiat subsistence hunt off the coast near Utqiaġvik, the northernmost settlement in Alaska. The whale, a 49-foot male, had been killed in May 2007 by hunters working under the quota system administered by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the International Whaling Commission. The Iñupiat have [...] The post A 49-foot bowhead whale killed by Iñupiat hunters in May 2007 was found to have been carrying a Victorian-era harpoon in its sh