Bowhead whales in the Arctic. Greenland or polar whale. Whale behavior and nutrition

The bowhead (polar) whale is a representative of the suborder of toothless whales. Another name for this suborder is baleen whales. The bowhead whale belongs to the genus of the same name and forms a separate species.

About 200 years ago, this mammal was found throughout the Arctic Ocean. Today their numbers have noticeably decreased. Now it can be found in the Chukchi, Bering and East Siberian seas, rarely in the Beaufort Sea. In the western Arctic Ocean it is found in the northern part of the Barents Sea and near Franz Josef Land and Spitsbergen. Very rarely swims into the waters adjacent to Jan Mayen Island. It usually swims and searches for food in surface waters; it tries not to dive to depths, although it dives well to depths of up to 300 meters.

Appearance of a polar whale

The body of this mammal reaches 21 meters in length. But this is an indicator for a male, females are smaller, their body reaches 18 meters in length. The body weight of the bowhead whale varies from 70 to 110 tons.

Its weight depends on nutrition and season. The whale has a large head; it is one-third the size of the body. Between the head and the body there is a semblance of a neck. The bowhead whale's oral cavity is arched and located high. This is due to the fact that the upper jaw is much smaller than the lower jaw.

These whales are giant underwater inhabitants.

The bowhead whale does not have a dorsal fin. But it has a powerful tail and side fins. The mammal's small eyes are located near the corners of the mouth. The oral cavity is large, filled with flexible vertical plates of whalebone. These plates reach 4.5 meters in length. Each of them has a fringe. The number of these plates reaches four hundred. The bowhead whale's body is usually dark gray in color. The body of some individuals may be dark blue or black. The neck, lower jaw, and often the belly are light in color.

Whale behavior and nutrition

The basis of the diet is plankton, namely: fish larvae and eggs, small crustaceans, and pteropods. This mammal eats approximately 2000 kg of this food per day. The whale swims at speeds of up to 15 km/hour. The bowhead whale often jumps. This is a very interesting sight: a huge mammal emerges halfway out of the water and then falls to the side.

The bowhead whale is constantly in a state of migration. In summer, it swims to cold northern waters and returns to coastal waters in winter. The ice on its path does not create obstacles; the animal easily breaks the ice, the thickness of which can reach 20 cm. Whales migrate in an organized manner, the school forms a wedge and swims. Such organization increases the efficiency of hunting. Arriving at the place, the group breaks up. Some of the animals lead a solitary lifestyle, some individuals can gather in small flocks. The whale breathes very interestingly: to clear its lungs of nitrogen, it releases fountains of water into the air. It prefers to sleep almost on the very surface of the water.

The bowhead whale is a long-liver.

Reproduction and lifespan

In early spring, whales migrate to northern waters. It is there, in cold water, that females give birth to their young. This occurs from April to July. The body of a newborn reaches a length of 4-5 meters, but how much it weighs at birth is not known. The female feeds the cub with milk for 6 months. These whales have not yet been studied enough. They live in harsh conditions in the Far North. Most of their life is spent in ice, which makes them very difficult to study. There is an opinion among scientists that there are two species of whale living in the Arctic Ocean, and not one, but this theory requires proof.

Killer whales and humans are the main opponents of this mammal.

The mating season occurs at the same time of year as childbirth. The bowhead whale's gestation period is about 13 months. Females can give birth to offspring once every 3 years. Therefore, at the same time, some females give birth, while others only mate. A newborn whale has a lighter color than its parents. At the age of one year the skin darkens. The bowhead whale lives for about 40 years, although some experts suggest that its actual lifespan is 100 years. However, this point of view has no evidence.

A baleen whale that lives in the polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Maximum length: 20 m (females), 18 m (males); the weight of an adult animal is from 75 to 100 tons. The maximum recorded weight is 150 tons. Life expectancy is about 40 years. It dives to a depth of 200 m and can remain underwater for up to 40 minutes. Average speed is about 20 km/h. Bowhead whales feed exclusively on plankton, consuming more than 1.5 tons of it daily.

It is quite easy to recognize this whale: its dark body and massive head have a huge curved mouth and a narrow snout with a white chin. The head makes up 1/3 of the entire body length. The massive skull makes the whale extremely heavy. It lacks a dorsal fin and does not have growths, like other cetaceans. They have the largest baleen, reaching 4.5 meters in height in adult whales. They have two humps, clearly visible in profile.

It is very difficult to observe bowhead whales - they live in the cold waters of the northern hemisphere, where climatic conditions are very difficult. In addition, observations are complicated by the natural isolation of whales and their small population.

Several interesting facts are associated with bowhead whales:

These animals never repeat their mating song twice, but compose a new one every year. Scientists attribute this musical diversity in males to their desire to remain attractive to the opposite sex and have as many different partners as possible, spreading their genes;
On the island of Ittyrgan there is Whale Alley, built from 60 skulls and 30 jaws of bowhead whales. The entire structure is supported by hundreds of specially placed stones. This building dates back to the 15th century AD;
This whale holds the record for longevity among vertebrates, living up to 211 years.
The whale has a very strong sense of responsibility for its children. Protecting her child, the female rushes at all potential enemies, showering them with blows from her tail. However, if there is no threat, then the bowhead whale is very cowardly, and even a bird landing on it can terrify the animal, forcing it to dive 200-300 meters under water.
A German naturalist interestingly said about intelligence that if a whale had a mind corresponding to its height and strength, then not only boats, but not even a single ship could withstand their blows, they would become the only and exclusive masters of the ocean.

Despite their love for polar latitudes, whales do not like to be among drifting ice, and once in such an “environment” they are forced to fight their way to open water by breaking ice up to 30 cm thick. Despite its massive size, which allows it to work as an icebreaker, the bowhead whale sometimes dies suffocated under thick ice. The local population discovers such places where whales die by swollen ice.

Order: Cetaceans Family: Right whales Genus: Bowhead whales (Balaena Linnaeus, 1758) Species: Bowhead whale Rarity category: 1 - for the endangered North Atlantic and Sea of Okhotsk populations, 3 - for the rare Bering-Chukchi population.

Scientific name - Balaena mysticetus Linnaeus, 1758

Bowhead (polar) whale- Balaena mysticetus Linnaeus, 1758

Spreading: In the past, the bowhead whale was numerous both in the west and in the east. sectors of the Arctic, found in the area of drifting ice in the Greenland, Norwegian, Barents, Kara, East Siberian, Chukotka, Bering, Okhotsk, as well as Beaufort seas and along the Canadian arch. . In the circumpolar range there were 5 geographical, but not taxonomically isolated herds, of which 3 herds (Svalbard, Bering-Chukchi and Sea of Okhotsk) migrated within the Russian seas.

Habitat: An inhabitant of arctic and subarctic waters, it usually stays near the edge of floating ice. Capable of breaking through ice up to 22 cm thick. The food of bowhead whales is the massive crustaceans - Calanus and Tizanoessa, which are caught at depths of about 50 m. Herds of up to several dozen animals gather in the feeding fields and during the rut. The maximum duration of diving is 85 minutes, the average is 15-17 minutes, females with cubs dive for 6-7 minutes. During spring migration they usually travel alone.

In the Chukchi Sea, near Herald Bank, groups of 50-70 animals were observed, in the Beaufort Sea, near Cape Barrow, a cluster of 56 animals was observed, and a group of 14 polar whales was photographed here on September 14, 1982. Body length at birth is 4-4.5 m, by the year it increases to 8.2 m, by puberty - up to 14 m and in physically mature individuals - up to 20 m. Sexual activity from March to May; pregnancy 13 months, birth from March to August, with a maximum in May. The lactation period is about a year. Pregnant females make up 15% of mature females. Life expectancy, judging by harpoons extracted from the body of whales, reaches 40 years.

Number: The total number before the start of fishing in the 17th century. approximately reached 50 thousand individuals. Under the influence of intensive fishing already in the 17th century. The number of the Spitsbergen herd decreased critically; in the 18th century. - West Greenland and Hudson herds, in the 19th century. - Bering-Chukchi and Sea of Okhotsk herds.

Extermination led to a widening gap between populations. The state of the numbers of different populations at the present time. time is not the same. The Svalbard, or North Atlantic, herd of bowhead whales is on the verge of complete extinction and requires urgent additional measures of protection and intensification of environmental research. The initial size of the herd reached 25 thousand at the present time. In time, perhaps only a few dozen whales have survived.

Only single individuals are found in the Barents Sea. The range of the herd has a seasonal pulsation: in the summer it sows. the border shifts to the high latitudes of the Arctic, to the zone of polar drifting ice (northern Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya), and in winter, with the advance of ice from the north and south. the border shifts in the south, to the islands of Newfoundland, Iceland, Jan Mayen, and to the waters of the Barents and Kara seas. The Bering-Chukchi herd of bowhead whales is showing a recovery trend.

In accordance with the decision of the International Whaling Commission, since 1998, the small indigenous peoples of Chukotka are allowed to catch up to 5 whales per year for traditional needs. In the middle of the 19th century. it numbered from 11.7 to 40 thousand individuals. Currently The number of whales is increasing over time. So, back in 1980, there were only 1500-3000 heads in this herd, according to other sources, in the west. 1,500 individuals lived in parts of the Chukchi Sea, and 3,000 individuals lived in the Beaufort Sea.

Currently Currently, the total number of bowhead whales in the Bering Sea, including the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, reaches 6-9 thousand, with a possible 3% increase in the population per year. After wintering in the north. and east In parts of the Bering Sea, whales in the spring, following the ice, enter the Chukchi Sea, and one part moves to the Wrangel and Herald Islands, and the other into the Beaufort Sea, to the bay. Amundsen. By winter, whales again descend into the Bering Sea and Anadyr Bay. .

The southernmost entry into the hall is marked for the view. Osaka (33°29" N), where on June 29, 1969, a 6.4 m long calf was caught in a net. The Sea of Okhotsk herd of bowhead whales is in a threatened state and is still very poorly studied. Nothing is known about its migrations. Fishing in the 19th century c. was carried out mainly in the western, middle and northern parts of the Sea of Okhotsk from the Shantarsky Bay to the Penezhin Bay.

By the beginning of the 20th century. the population was on the verge of extinction. By the beginning of mass fishing (19th century), the number of this herd reached 6 thousand, and according to more conservative estimates - 2-3 thousand. Nowadays there are 200-400 whales in the Sea of Okhotsk, which is 10-13% of the original population. Apparently, individuals from this population made separate trips to the south.

The main reason for the decline in the number of bowhead whales is overfishing in the 18th-19th centuries. Low fertility - the birth of a single calf every 4-7 years, a disturbance factor due to increased shipping, ocean pollution, which negatively affects the food supply, also to some extent limit the rate of restoration of the numbers of these whales.

Minor damage is caused by enemies - killer whales and sharks, as well as rare cases of whales freezing into the ice. The growth of the bowhead whale population, despite the existing long-term fishing ban (since 1935), is very slow. They tried to explain this by saying that the species had already stabilized its numbers, but at a very low level. However, the fact that the population is growing extremely unevenly (the Bering-Chukchi herd is growing relatively faster) rather indicates that limiting factors have been poorly studied, especially for the Svalbard herd.

Security: Listed on the IUCN-96 Red List, Appendix 1 of CITES. In 1935, hunting the bowhead whale was prohibited by the International Whaling Convention; in 1946, the ban was again reinforced by a decision of the International Whaling Commission

The bowhead whale lives in polar waters. This whale belongs to the baleen suborder and is the only mammal representative of the bowhead species. The body of a female bowhead whale reaches a length of up to 22 m; males, oddly enough, are smaller; their maximum size is 18 m.

Bowhead whale weight, can be from 75 to 150 tons. It has the ability to dive deep under water to 200 m, and not rise to the surface for up to 40 minutes. This is not a common occurrence; in most cases, a whale does not dive like this; on average, it stays under water for 10-15 minutes.

They migrate in flocks, where they are divided into three groups: adult individuals, sexually mature individuals and those under 30 years of age. When searching for food, they stay together, line up in a wedge or in the form of a Roman numeral V. When studying behavior, it was noticed that females and cubs are given the privilege of feeding first, the rest of the flock lines up behind them.

Description of the bowhead whale. The usual color of an adult whale is dark gray, but some individuals exist in blue and black colors. One of the characteristic distinguishing features of the bowhead whale is that the lower part of the massive body is much lighter than the main color.

Another structural feature is the size of the jaws. In this species, the upper jaw is significantly smaller than the lower jaw. The whale's mouth is located high and has a symmetrical arched shape.

The head of the bowhead whale is very large, in relation to the entire body, occupying a third of the entire length of the whale. Upon careful study of the structure, it was noted that near the head of this mammal there is a place that resembles a neck.

A representative of this species has no teeth, but the oral cavity is equipped with a large number of whalebone plates. Their length is from 3.5 to 4.5 m, and their number varies up to 400.

The mammal's subcutaneous fat layer is very thick - up to 70 cm; this layer helps to cope well with pressure during deep diving and maintains a normal temperature, which in the bowhead whale is the same as the temperature of the human body.

The whale's eyes are small with thick corneas; they are located on the sides, near the corners of the mouth. The whale does not have a dorsal fin, but the tail and lateral fins are very developed; the maximum speed of an adult can be up to 20 km/h. When surfacing after a deep dive, a whale can blow out a two-jet fountain up to 10 m high.

Whales do not have external ears, but their hearing is very well developed. The inner ear is capable of perceiving not only sound waves, but also ultrasound waves. Sound perception in a mammal has a very wide range.

Some of the polar whale's hearing functions are similar to sonar, thanks to which the animal can easily navigate under water, even at great depths. This hearing property helps the whale determine distances and locations.

Bowhead whale habitat – some parts of the Arctic Ocean. Mostly schools of these mammals are found in the cold waters of the Chukchi, East Siberian and Bering seas.

Less common in the Beaufort and Barents Seas. Bowhead whales constantly migrate, this is due to water temperature. In the spring and summer, whales go far into cold waters, and in winter they return to the coastal zone.

Although bowhead whale lives in latitudes, it prefers to move in clear waters without ice floes. Although in some cases they use an ice crust to camouflage themselves from the perceived threat. If a whale needs to come to the surface while underwater, it can easily break through ice 25 cm thick.

Character and lifestyle of the bowhead whale

Bowhead whales They prefer to be in packs, but sometimes solitary individuals can be found. Many character traits in whales have not been studied, since due to their specific habitat, a detailed study of mammals is impossible. In a state of rest or sleep, the whale is on the surface of the water.

Due to its impressive and terrifying size, the bowhead whale has few enemies. Only, or rather a flock, can cause severe damage to a mammal; often the prey of killer whales are young individuals that have strayed from the flock.

Natural selection does not greatly influence the population, but the mass extermination of this species by humans has led to a critical decrease in the number of bowhead whales in nature. To date bowhead whale in red, there are only up to 10 thousand individuals in the world. Since 1935, hunting them has been strictly prohibited.

What does the bowhead whale eat?

The main diet of the polar whale is plankton, small crustaceans and krill. The process of absorbing food is quite interesting; the whale swims underwater with its mouth wide open. At this moment, food enters the cavity and moves into the esophagus with the help of the tongue.

Due to the fine structure of the whalebone, after filtration, almost all the plankton, and even the smallest particles of it, remain in the whale’s oral cavity. An adult animal absorbs up to 2 tons of food per day.

Reproduction and lifespan of the bowhead whale

One of the features of this species of mammal is the male’s performance of a mating song. Scientists say that the whale performs different melodies every year. The individuality of sounds and their combination turns into a unique tune that calls the female to mate.

In addition to the sound, the whale can jump out of the water and, at the moment of immersion, make a strong clap on the surface with its tail, this also attracts the attention of the female. After fertilization, after 13 months, the female gives birth to a four-meter calf. Female whales become pregnant once every three to four years. For the first 6 months, the baby is breastfed and stays next to the mother all the time.

Over time, it adopts the female’s skills and feeds on its own, but continues to be with the female for another 2 years. After 20 years, the male can independently fertilize females, who become sexually mature 3-4 years earlier. The average lifespan of a whale is up to 80 years. There are often individual individuals that, according to research results, live more than 100 years.

There is an opinion that in nature there are representatives of the species whose age is more than 200 years; this phenomenon is extremely rare, but despite this, the species claims to be an honorary centenarian among mammals.

Such a long-term existence has aroused great interest among scientists all over the world. Thanks to research, it has been established that the genome of marine animals, due to increased cell division, is able to cope with various diseases, including the formation of cancer cells. Polar whales have genetic abilities that are associated with complete genome restoration and resistance to cancer.

Whales are one of the oldest inhabitants of our planet, because they appeared much earlier than us - people, more than fifty million years ago. The bowhead whale, also known as the polar whale, belongs to the suborder of toothless baleen whales, and it is the only representative of the bowhead whale genus.

All of my life bowhead whale lives only in the polar waters of the northern part of our planet. It lives in such cruel conditions that it is almost impossible for a person to be there to study it better.

Two centuries ago Greenlandic whale reigned over the entire Arctic Ocean. Its species was divided into three subspecies, which migrated in herds throughout the entire perimeter of the Arctic Circle. The ships practically maneuvered between giant fish swimming past.

At present, their numbers have greatly decreased; scientists suggest that there are no more than ten thousand whales left. For example, in the Sea of Okhotsk there are only four hundred of them. It is very rarely seen in the waters of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas. Sometimes found in the Beaufort and Bering Seas.

These giant mammals easily dive to depths of up to three hundred meters, but most of the time they prefer to stay closer to the surface of the water.

Describing the bowhead whale, It is worth noting that his head occupies one third of the entire animal. Males grow eighteen meters long, females are larger - twenty-two meters.

In full dawn of strength, Greenlandic whales weigh one hundred tons, but there are specimens that grow up to one hundred and fifty tons. It is interesting that such huge animals are very timid by nature.

And drifting on the surface, if a seagull or a cormorant lands on its back, the whale is terrified, without hesitation, it will flop down into the depths and wait there until the frightened birds fly away.

The whale's skull is very massive, its mouth is curved in the shape of an inverted English letter "V", and tiny eyes are located right at the edges of its corners. Bowhead whales have poor eyesight, and they cannot smell at all.

The lower jaw is larger than the upper, slightly moved forward, and contains vibrissae, that is, the whale’s sense organs. His huge chin is painted white. The fish's snout itself is narrowed and sharp towards the end.

The dorsal fin on the whale's back is completely absent, but there are two humps. They are clearly visible if you look at them from the side. The fins, which are located on the chest part of the animal, are quite wide at their base, rather short, and their tips are smoothly rounded, like two oars. It is known that the heart of bowhead whales weighs just over five hundred kilograms and is the size of a passenger car.

Bowhead whales have the largest baleen, reaching a height of five meters. Whiskers, or rather whisker plates, are located in the mouth on both sides, there are about 350 of them on each side.

This baleen is not only long, but also thin; thanks to its elasticity, even the smallest fish cannot pass by the whale’s stomach. The animal is reliably protected from the icy water of the Northern Oceans by its subcutaneous fat, its layer is seventy centimeters thick.

On the parietal part of the whale fish’s head there are two large slits, this is a blowhole through which it releases seven-meter fountains of water with lethal force. This mammal has such power that with its blowhole it breaks open ice floes thirty centimeters thick. The polar whale's tail is about ten meters across. Its ends are clearly pointed, and there is a large depression in the middle of the tail.

Character and lifestyle of the bowhead whale

As is already known, bowhead habitat polar whales constantly changing, they do not sit in one place, but migrate regularly. With the onset of spring warmth, mammals, gathered in a flock, move closer to the north.

Their path is not easy, because huge blocks of ice block their way. Then you have to line up in a special way - in a school or like migratory birds - in a wedge.

Firstly, each of them can feed unhindered, and secondly, lining up in this way it is much easier for them to push the ice floes and overcome obstacles faster. Well, with the onset of autumn days, they, having gathered together again, set off back together.

Whales spend all their free time separately, constantly either diving in search of food or rising to the surface. They dive into the depths briefly, for about 10-15 minutes, then jump out to exhale, releasing fountains of water.

And they jump out quite interestingly: at the beginning, a huge firebrand floats to the surface, then half of the body. Then suddenly, the whale suddenly turns over on its side and plops down on him. If an animal is wounded, it will remain under water much longer, about one hour.

Researchers have learned how bowhead whales sleep. They rise as high as possible to the surface and fall asleep. Since the body, due to the fat layer, floats quite well on the water, the whale falls asleep.

During this, the body does not immediately sink to the bottom, but gradually descends. Having reached a certain depth, the animal makes a sharp blow with its huge tail and rises to the surface again.

What does the bowhead whale eat?

Its diet consists of small crustaceans, fish eggs and fry, and pteropods. It descends to a depth, and at a speed of twenty kilometers per hour, opening its mouth as wide as possible, it begins to filter huge amounts of water.

His mustache is so thin that the smallest three-millimeter plangtons that settle on them are immediately licked off by the tongue and swallowed with pleasure. In order for such a fish to be satisfied, it needs to eat at least two tons of food per day.

But then, in the autumn-winter period, whales do not eat anything for more than half a year. They are saved from starvation by the huge amounts of fat accumulated by the body.

Reproduction and lifespan of the bowhead whale

The onset of mating season for whales occurs in early spring. Males, as they should, compose and sing serenades themselves. Moreover, with the onset of next year they come up with a new song and never repeat it.

The whales use all their imagination for new motives, not only because of one chosen one, but also for many other females, so that everyone knows what a handsome guy lives in the area. After all, they, like all men, are polygamous.

Listen voice Greenlandic whale Very Interesting. People who watch whales kept in captivity claim that over the years the animal is able to mimic the sounds made by humans.

Whales, among all living creatures, make the loudest sounds, and ladies can hear them, being fifteen thousand kilometers away. With the help of vibrissae, mammals pick up noises that reach the organ of hearing. The gestation period for a female whale lasts thirteen months. Then she gives birth to one baby, and will feed him with her milk for another year.

The mother whale's milk is so thick that its consistency can be compared to the thickness of toothpaste. Since its fat content is fifty percent, and it contains a large amount of protein.

Babies are born with a layer of fat that will protect them from hypothermia, five to seven meters in length. But within a year, being only breastfed, they grow considerably, reaching fifteen meters in length and weighing 50-60 tons.

After all, only in the first day after birth, a child receives about one hundred liters of mother’s milk. Newborns are lighter in color than their parents. They are round and more like a huge barrel.

Bowhead whale tail

Females are very caring mothers; they not only feed their children, but also protect them from enemies. Seeing a killer whale nearby, the mother will deal fatal blows to the offender with her huge tail.

The next time a female whale becomes pregnant is two to three years later. Of the total number of whales currently living, only fifteen percent are pregnant females.

Bowhead whales live for about fifty years. But, as you know, they are considered long-lived. And scientific observers have recorded many cases where whales lived to be two hundred years or more.

In the seventies of the last century Greenlandic whales entered to the Red Book as an endangered species, since they were hunted in a brutal, uncontrolled manner. Initially, fishermen picked up those whales that died and were washed ashore by the water.

They used their fat and meat as easily accessible and valuable food. But human greed knows no bounds; poachers began to exterminate them en masse for the purpose of selling them. Today, whale hunting is strictly prohibited and punishable by law. Unfortunately, cases of poaching have not stopped.

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